


Lego Elves: Dangers and Dragons

by Pepsi_Writes



Series: Rewrite the Magic [2]
Category: Lego Elves: Secrets of Elvendale (Cartoon)
Genre: Elves, F/F, F/M, Fanfiction, Fantasy, Gen, Lego, Lego Elves - Freeform, M/M, Secrets of Elvendale - Freeform, lego elves: secrets of elvendale - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2020-12-20 18:34:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21061277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pepsi_Writes/pseuds/Pepsi_Writes
Summary: It's been two months since the events of the ball, and Emily isn't too keen on returning to Elvendale. But push comes to shove when the Queen of Dragons, Elandra, is taken prisoner by an evil elf. From there, Emily makes new allies and friends, learning all she can about Elvendale and its creatures.Or at least, all that the elves will let her know.Book 2 of the Rewrite the Magic project.





	1. A Word From Victor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I promised a double update for this book's debut, but editing has gone slow on Dragons to Save: Part 1, so I couldn't update on Wednesday like I wanted. Here's a supplementary chapter that I found from awhile back that one of my editors prompted me to do. Hopefully, we can get into the meat of the story before or by November 15th.

**r/AskReddit **

**Parents of Reddit, what was the saddest incident your child went through?**

_ Answer from EvanJonesIsANerd _

Obligatory not my kid, but my niece E. I’ve talked about her as well as my own kids plenty of times before.

A small backstory for context before we start: My little brother is E's father, and he works as a Bioengineer. His wife is an Astrophysicist working for NASA. As you can imagine, they're not home often due to how demanding their jobs are. Because they weren't able to be home for long to raise their kids, they moved into our childhood home with mom and dad. 

Our parents took up the role of raising my brother's girls. E became very attached to her grandma, more so than her own parents, even going through a phase of calling her 'mom'. But when my mother passed away in her sleep a few months ago, E (and her sister) did not take it well.

On to the story:

A few days after the death, we started distributing the inheritance. E was given my mom's amulet, which my mom has worn since before she met my dad. The same day my brother and his wife gave her the amulet, she left to wander the garden behind the house. Lunch came and went, and E had not come back inside. 

My brother became frantic, he and his wife began knocking on doors asking if anyone had seen E that morning. No one had. My son called all her friends, they hadn't heard from her. Not even her best friend, who is E's sole confidant, had any idea where she was.

Night came as E's mom returned from checking locations where E would usually frequent. As you can guess, she was nowhere to be found.

The following morning, nearly 24 hours after E disappeared, my brother took an early start to search the woods beyond the garden. While out there, he said he heard something that sounded like a starship's warp engines suddenly cut out with a faint flash of light. When he went to investigate, E was standing in front of the old oak my mom used to hang around with a dazed expression. My brother had to physically move her to snap her out of whatever she was under. She was fine, and he was too relieved to be angry at her.

Cut to now. E has been disappearing more frequently over the past couple of months. Last month I spotted her running across the green in her swimsuit, even though there's no river around for miles. And there's been small instances of complete radio silence from her, but nothing alarming, until now.

A few days ago, E left around the middle of the day with a nice dress like she was off to a party. That's all fine and dandy, teens do this sort of thing in the summer. But the morning of the next day, she didn't get up to feed her cat like she usually does. My dad went to check on her because her parents were at work, and she wouldn't respond. Her parents came home to check on her. They concluded she had to have returned at some point on her own since she had changed into pajamas, but hours went by and she still hadn't woken up. My brother had me take her to the hospital while he and his wife tried to negotiate time off work.

I don't know how this is even possible, but three days passed without her waking up. Doctors checked her everything. Vitals were stable, digestive track normal, heart rate healthy, blood work came back negative for any anomalies. The only thing off was what looked to be a mild burn scar on her wrist, like a cord had wrapped around it. Doctors sent us home not knowing what was going on.

She finally woke up yesterday morning, clearly shaken and confused. I asked her what happened and she looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't. Instead, she took the amulet and threw it in her drawer, locking it and tossing the key aside, saying she 'can't do this anymore' and broke down. At that point, all I could do was hug her as she sobbed for hours.

**TLDR:** ** My niece, who really misses her deceased grandmother, goes missing for 24 hours months after inheriting said grandmother's amulet. She leaves for shorter periods of time every few days for a couple months following. A few days ago she doesn't wake up. I take her to the hospital where nothing is found. She wakes up three days later and rejects the amulet. She has an emotional breakdown and refuses to speak about what happened.**


	2. Return to Caller

_A sound, like the ringing of metal against edged metal. _

_ Searing pain around her wrist. _

_ Yanked around. _

_ Metal ran across the blade. _

_ ‘Goldenglow!’ _

_ She was followed. _

_ “Did you think you could escape?” _

_ “Please, y-you don’t have to do this!” _

_ Metal ran across the blade. _

_ Her wrist burned. _

_ ‘Fight back.’ _

_ Metal crossed the blade._

_ “---Worthier than a human’s spawn.”_

_ Metal crossed the blade._

_ ‘Get up.’_

_ Metal crossed the blade._

_ “Dispatching you should be easy enough.”_

_ Her eyes stung._

_ ‘How could you do this…’ _

_ A white flash and the feeling of being thrown back. She felt light and warm._

_ Someone spoke to her in her many languages and voices._

_ "I will take care of everything."_

_ Thunder rolled in the distance._

_ The light faded, and the thunder morphed into the desperate bellow of a beast. She was crouched by a nest made from woven branches and foliage. Her hand reached for an egg shaped opal._

_ “A naughty girl must steal I see!” A woman’s voice hissed. Her head shot up to a person dressed in a sleek black dress, a panel of green scales running down the length, green gemstones strung on either of her hips. Magenta hair flowed freely down her back, but quickly flared up._

_ “All the dragons of the land belong to ME!” _

_ The green jewel in her jet black crown glowed an enraged light as the woman summoned a black energy, launching it towards her._

_ She snatched the opal into the basket on her arm and ran, the blast just grazing her heels. She hopped to a rock, dodging another attack, then another. Jumping to the third rock she was stopped in mid air. Green glowing black cords wrapping around her and snaked into the basket. With a quick head motion, water shot from a mountain stream, severing the cords. _

_She ran on, tripping and stumbling, not stopping until the path’s end._

_ She shook her head._

_ Her eyes snapped open again, attempting to yank herself from the magic chains on her neck. The woman approached with a wicked grin, stroking the opal with a jet colored nail._

_ “Oh don’t you fret Elandra, every last one of those eggs shall be retrieved soon enough.”_

_ Sorrow._

_ Fear._

_ Rage._

_ A deep rumble built in her chest._

_ She snarled and let out a furious roar. _

*

Emily’s eyes snapped open to be met with her amulet levitating and glowing before her, a slitted pupil showing in the blue stone. She gasped, and lurched back into the headboard, her cat bolting into the darkness beyond the bedroom door. Rubbing the pain from her head, the amulet had dropped onto the bed, the stone dark. 

“How did this get out?” 

Shaking her head, Emily took the amulet from her blankets and climbed out of bed. Crossing the dark room to her vanity set, she unlocked the center drawer and placed the amulet in among parts for her figurine collection. Slamming the drawer shut and locking it, Emily turned with a strained sigh. As she dragged her feet to return to her covers, she stopped. 

The amulet was on her pillow. 

Emily sputtered, turning to the drawer then back to her pillow. She growled and stalked back to her bed, snatching the amulet with a shaky hand. As she went to try the drawer again, her attention was brought to the window. 

Clambering over the bed she looked out into the quiet night and scanned the treeline. On her second pass she noticed a pale blue glow breaking through the foliage. She vigorously shook her head and quietly stormed around the bed and back to the drawer. 

_ Even if I wanted to go back, I don’t have anything to take with me. _ She thought, locking the drawer for a second time. Again, she turned to make her way back to her covers, only to be sent tumbling to the floor. 

Snapping her head up, her eyes locked on the amulet that laid centimeters from her face. Turning over her shoulder, she saw what she tripped over. 

A fully packed bag that was definitely not in her path earlier. 

Clenching her teeth, Emily kicked the bag under her bed and snatched up the amulet. Standing with her head bowed, Emily began to shake, holding back whimpers as she tried to push the events of the ball from her memory. 

Suddenly, Emily felt a presence from the portrait of her grandmother that hung next to the window. 

_ They need you._

_ I’m not going back, not after---_

_ Go._

_ No._

_ You want to go._

_ NO!_

_ You can’t hide forever._

“I’m never going back there again!” 

She hurled the amulet across the room, only to be hit in the back of the head with it. Shuddering breaths racked her body as she collapsed to her knees. 

Emily couldn’t find the energy to jump at the knock on her wardrobe. 

“You okay Illy?” 

Moving her eyes, she saw two dimly lit figures, one standing at the wardrobe, the other directly behind. 

“I’m fine Sophie. You and Bridgette go back to bed, I’ll be… out for awhile. Don’t wait up.” 

With an affirming sound, the girl at the wardrobe scrunched her pixie-cut black hair and turned out of the room. Sophie lingered for a moment, only following their cousin upon Emily giving her a look. 

Standing, Emily looked down at herself. The amulet hung from her neck, with her now fully dressed in khaki shorts and the shirt taken from Skyra’s. With a defeated sigh she slung the backpack over her shoulder and was down the stairs. 

_ I hope this is over quick. _


	3. Dragons to Save: Part 1

With her heart in her ears and eyes sealed shut, Emily stepped out onto the grass of Elvendale. She took a deep, calculated breath, unmoving from where she stood. She braced herself for an Azari hug, but quickly realized that nothing would happen.

“Okay, it can't be that bad…” She muttered to herself, “Open your eyes in three…” 

_ Two. _

_ One. _

Emily flinched as the morning light hit her eyes. After her momentary blindness subsided, her breath hitched. She took a shaky step, looking out at the forest. 

While a twenty foot diameter surrounding the portal tree went untouched, the trees beyond were torn from their roots. Some were strewn about the ground as wood chips, while others were cleanly sawn through, the cuts blackened with scorch marks. A bowl of glass sat among the remains of three trees, right where a sandpit used to be.

Emily broke into a mad sprint, leaping over the carnage towards the clearing. She ignored the bridge, instead leaping over the stream that ran along the clearing edge. She crossed the field in five strides, wall-climbed the root where the steps were, threw herself over the landing’s banister and slammed the door open.

Startled looks met manic eyes as Emily stood panting in the doorway. Her eyes flashed between Naida, Farran and Azari, who were surrounding the table. 

Naida’s brow was wrinkled, like she was on the verge of sobbing. She was shaking under the blanket she had wrapped around herself. Farran sat frozen with a plain leather bound book cradled in his left arm, open to the middle. Azari had a teacup, and looked like she was about to offer it to Naida.

“Sorry for barging in like thi---” Emily grunted as Azari threw herself into a desperate hug around her shoulders.

“---But, I just had the most disturbing dream.” Emily continued, gently pulling from Azari’s embrace. “I… I’ve actually been having it for awhile now. But there was more to it this time.” Emily tossed her bag aside, rubbing her eyes and stretching her back.

“Was it by any chance about a dragon?” Naida asked, casting Emily a curious eye.

“I… I don’t know.” Emily groaned, beginning to pace the floor. “But I was in a little mountain valley, reaching for an opal in a nest. And there was this witch---”

“---with long magenta hair and a long black dress---”

“Yeah!” Emily said as Naida joined her description of the woman. The elves became quiet again as Emily then continued summarizing her dream, from taking the last opal from the nest, to severing the witch’s magic and escaping, all the while Naida’s expression grew more and more confused. Emily had just started telling the part about the witch taunting her, when the door slammed open behind them.

“I’m here! I came the moment I h--- Emily?!” Aira yelled from the door, looking at the human in shock.

“Emily you’re okay!” The elf’s ears perked up and she took a step, reaching out to the human. Emily wrapped her arms around herself and side-stepped out of the elf’s reach.

“Believe me, if I never had to come back to Elvendale, I wouldn’t.” She said, ignoring the way Aira’s ears twitched and went limp.

“The opals.” Emily said after a moment, stepping to the basket where four football sized gems rested. “Like from my nightmare.”

“They’re not opals,” Naida said, brushing a shaky knuckle across the shimmering surface, “they’re dragon eggs.”

“And what you described wasn’t just a nightmare.” Farran said.

“What do you mean?” Emily replied, not taking her eyes off the pastel rainbow flecks of the shells.

“Go on Naida, tell them what you told me and Azari.” Farran urged, turning his attention back into the book. A brief pause followed.

“It was like I was there when the mother was attacked. Her cry could crumble the mountainside, it was so loud.” Naida gazed into her reflection on the eggshell, her eyes somber as she gathered her thoughts.

“I was gathering dragon moss and throo blossoms for some potions, when I heard the dragon cry. I ventured up the mountain until I came across the valley, where an elf had cornered a white dragon with chains of black magic.” 

Naida’s face screwed into a grimace, her hand shaking as she covered her mouth. Azari used one hand to apply her calming charm, while the other offered the cup of tea once again. After taking a prolonged sip, Naida continued on.

“The elf had already caught two other dragons, and used them to weaken the dragon enough to capture her in a chain. While the elf gloated about becoming the new queen of dragons, I snuck to the nest and started taking the eggs.

“But the strangest thing is, I have no recollection between reaching for the final egg, and collapsing at the shoreline.” Naida put her free hand to her forehead, while stroking the egg with the other.

“Who was this elf? Trying to hold a dragon and her eggs hostage?” Aira asked. 

Naida chewed her lip, her ears quivering as she took small sips from the teacup Azari handed her.

“Ragana… She said that once that dragon was hers, she would be the new queen of dragons.”

“Ragana?” Azari’s ears went to attention, “Wasn’t she held back more than once? I remember her looking older than everyone else in class.”

“But wasn’t she a fire elf?” Aira asked, “Why would Ragana be using--- oh no.”

“Shadow fountain…” The elves whispered in unison. Farran brought a hand to his mouth, brows knitted in thought. Naida pinched her lips while her ears twitched like a timid rabbit. Azari shifted in her seat, magic sparking from her hands as she fiddled with her fingers. And Aira shifted her weight from foot to foot, her eyes dashing around the room.

“If this is true,” Farran said, his hand coming down to rest on an illustration of a white dragon, “and we’re dealing with dark magic and the queen dragon, this has to be reported to the palace.”

“NO!” 

The elves jumped at Emily’s voice.

“Emily, the Queen and King are best suited to get this taken care of.” Naida explained.

“And how long is it going to take to even get a message through? How long is it going to take for them to get anything done?” Emily was standing now. Her head felt like it was about to burst. 

“How do you know if either of them even care about this?” 

Emily grimaced, her hands going to her temples as the ache grew stronger.

*

_ Her mouth was tied shut, black chords of magic all leading to the sorceress’ right hand, the egg held in her left hand. In her current state, all she could do was give weak rumbles while being led through the ravine. _

_ Movement from between the gray rocks above caught her attention. _

_ Crouched on the ledge above was a white scaled dragon with wings of white and gold feathers and pale blue diamonds running down his spine. His straight golden horns glinted in the sunlight as he shifted his weight, feathered shoulders and hackles bristling. He flicked his feathered tail and ears around, giving a worried look to her before ducking behind a boulder. _

_ Her child. _

_ A dragon the color of marigolds with fuschia horns landed on the path behind her. Her shoulders, ankles, thighs and back were littered with red-violet gemstones that glittered with fire magic. She lashed her slender, flame tipped tail and flared out her yellow and pink wings. Her chest and throat were puffed out as golden fire glowed from between the fuschia belly scales. _

_ Up ahead another dragon came into view from a branching path. She was a deep blue wyvern with mint green fins for her ears and crest, the webbing continuing down her back into a fin on her tail. The pearly white talons on her four-toed wings scratched into the stone, and she pressed her aquamarine speckled shoulders forward. Hissing, she revealed rows upon rows of diamond sharp white teeth. _

_ Her subjects. _

_ Atop the wyvern was an elf with bright blue hair, his cool terra-cotta complexion almost looked bronze in the light. He wore deep blue trousers and a rich blue tunic under leather shoulder armor. A silver spear was held in his right hand, charged up with blinding blue magic. _

_ Her ally. _

_ Her head whipped around as the sorceress raised her free hand and shot the chords into the wall of the ravine. Another hand motion summoned chords to hold her egg just out of reach. She struggled against her ties, longing to touch the egg, to take it far from the claws of the sorceress. _

_ ‘She’ll be here soon…’ _

_ The sorceress said something to the elf, but whatever it was sounded like it had been spoken through aquarium glass. _

_ Magic was summoned. _

_ The chords on her mouth loosened. _

_ The wyvern and male elf charged. _

*

Emily gasped. 

She was looking up at the branches weaving through the ceiling. A shudder racked her body and her skin prickled.

“We have to save her. This… this dragon is hurt and I… I don’t think we have much time.”

Farran opened his mouth to protest, only for an echoing, heartbroken roar to come rolling from the mountains, shaking each of them to their cores. As the last notes of the roar faded out, Farran closed the book with a defeated sigh and set it on the table in front of him.

“Emily’s right. That sounded like she was in great pain, and to seek audience with the crowns can take an entire day if they’re not busy.” Farran agreed.

“But where would we start?” Azari asked, taking Naida’s empty teacup.

“We’re dealing with an evil sorceress, black magic and the queen dragon.” Farran said, moving his hands like he was weighing their options, “If there’s any place to start, it would be a draconna training school.”

“I think I know where the closest one is.” Naida said, brushing the blanket from her shoulders.

“Where is it?” Aira grabbed a map from a nearby shelf and leaned over Farran, handing it to Naida. The water elf put her finger on a spot near the center and dragged it towards Emily.

“We’ll have to go up the coast from the Leaflands until we reach the mouth of the Lazuli River. From there, we go upstream through the Driftwood Forest, the school should be right along the shoreline behind a rock ledge.”

“Great! We know where we’re going. Now come on, we’re burning daylight.” Emily tossed her gray backpack onto her shoulders and was out the door without a second glance.

  
  


~*~

  
  


The journey to the school was tense. 

Emily had curled herself around her bag right up against the bow of Naida’s ship, her chin resting atop folded arms. Naida and Aira had since made their attempts to reconcile, only for their efforts to be in vain. Emily was determined to keep her emotional distance for the duration of the visit.

Yet, she couldn’t maintain her defenses for long.

It started with Farran. He took a seat next to her and leaned against the railing. Emily felt his eyes at the back of her head before they drifted off to watch the shoreline pass by. He knew that she picked up on his presence.

Minutes passed by, Emily slowly guiding her gaze straight ahead. Together they watched the driftwood and seaweed littered beaches fade into rock and dirt ledges. Little gemstones poked from the earth, misted by the waves below them. Fallen trees stuck their singed limbs in every direction, while sections of boulders were reduced to rubble.

“Emily.”

She twitched at her name, meeting his eyes upon a glance in his direction. Emily looked away just as quickly, instead focusing on the passing banks.

“What happened after the ball?”

“I went home.” Emily replied, letting her left arm dangle over the side to brush the wake. She became so contented by watching the water, that Farran’s hand grabbing her own went unnoticed. He brought her wrist up closer.

“How did this happen?” Farran ran his thumb along the smooth and slightly red pathway of skin that wrapped around wrist three times. Emily hesitated, taking her arm back to look at the still healing scar.

“Was screwing around with friends, burned myself on some hot metal.”

“What kind of metal?” Farran asked, casting her a quizzical look.

Emily flinched, not expecting Farran of all people to press it further.

“Uh… a pan.” Emily stammered, spitting out the first thing that came to mind.

Farran’s ears pressed flush with the sides of his head, the motion Emily came to associate with elven skepticism. But, he remained silent, opting to stay seated in calm silence without pressing the matter further.

Before long, Azari approached them, leaning to whisper into Farran’s ear, prompting him to get up and move to where Aira was sketching in the cabin. The fire elf quickly took his place and folded her legs, ears drooped to the lowest Emily had ever seen them. The human attempted to ignore the finger fidgeting presence by looking into the thickening forest. Azari breathed a heavy sigh.

“I---”

“Where were you?” Emily cut in with a dull expression. She didn’t need to look at the elf too know her guilt, it was like dry ice fog washing off her typically warm skin.

“I went to get us food, but then I saw my mother and brother, and I couldn’t help but stop to talk to them.”

Emily slowly sat up, propping her body on her elbows. After a moment of deliberation, she looked Azari in the eye, the elf lowered her eyes upon meeting Emily’s gaze.

“I haven’t spoken to my mother or brother for a long time Emily, so I was excited when I actually saw them at the ball. I know it took me far too long to remember that you needed me.” The elf rubbed the back of her hand, orange wisps of magic floating into the air.

“When did you come back?”

“About forty five minutes later. I spotted three goblins come from the balcony, and nearly tripped over one while running out, but you were gone by then. It’s such a relief, seeing that you’re okay after all that.” Silence settled once again, the tension greatly eased. Azari took some of Emily’s thick, wavy hair in her hand. Her eyes shifted, looking to change the subject.

“Has your hair always been that dark?” Azari asked.

“No.” The corner of Emily’s mouth curled upward. “It darkens when the weather gets colder or if I don’t go outside.”

  
  


~*~

  
  


“We’re nearly there!” Naida called from the bow as they came to a silvery rock face that marked a bend in the river. Trenches were gouged into the face, looking like someone in a rage had clawed their fingers through a mound of clay.

A low rumble rolled like distant thunder from over the bluff, growing louder and louder as the wind picked up. Curious, Emily stood and leaned on the railing, straining her neck to pinpoint the sound. The sound grew and grew, resonating in the air around them until it became a mighty roar followed by a dragon bursting from the trees.

Excitement rushed through Emily’s veins as the lime-colored blur swooped at the ship, nearly capsizing the boat. The dragon looped back around and soared over them before returning to the forest canopy. Emily bounced like a child, all goofy smiles and giggles of excitement.

“Here we are, the Stormsurfer School of Dragons!” Naida announced while guiding the ship into port. 

One by one, the elves and Emily stepped onto the dock, making their way up the bank to a boardwalk that connected to a feeder creek. Emily took in the sand colored walls and the sapphire blue roof of the school, which seemed to complement the deep fuschia leaves of the forest it was nestled in. Part of the structure was built on pillars allowing the creek below it to flow unimpeded.

There were no signs of life that Emily or anyone in her group could see. Only the sounds of water and the mist lingering in the forest were present. Using her magic, Aira jumped the stairs that branched off the center of the boardwalk and peeked into the entrance of the school.

“There’s no one inside!” She called down to them.

“No one by the lake either.” Naida added as she joined the group, cradling the basket of eggs.

“Should we wait or---”

Emily was interrupted by the exhausted call of a dragon followed by a harsh crash. 

With a start the group turned to see a deep blue wyvern collapsed at the start of the boardwalk, the rider stumbling off its back. The blue haired elf pushed himself to a kneeling position with a silver spear tightly gripped in his left hand, his body shook as he gasped for breath. Emily’s breath hitched when she recognized the pair and took in the state they were in.

“Oh in the queen’s name.” Naida spoke, jogging to the figure with Farran and Emily close behind. Farran took the elf by the arm and helped him to his feet. 

The elf's bright bright blue hair was tangled and singed black at the ends. All over his arms were what looked to be lash marks like the one on Emily’s wrist, but what caught everyone’s attention was the burn on his right forearm. Wounds peaked through the tears in his tunic, the leather armor on his right shoulder scratched up and missing scales. One large mark of darkened skin went up the front of his throat and crept to just over his jawline, while little cuts and scrapes littered his face. The wyvern was in a similar state, her seafoam green underbelly scratched up, and her fins scuffed and torn at the edges.

“What happened?” Naida asked the elf as Emily came to stand behind her. The elf groaned in response, gritting his teeth and gripping the spear tighter.

“We… we tried to save her…” He said between breaths, turning to face Farran and Naida.

“Who?” Farran asked. The elf struggled to get his words out as he held the mark on his throat.

“You and the other dragons tried to free the queen in that ravine.”

The elf turned to Emily, slowly standing on his own. Farran and Naida looked to her in equal confusion.

“Y-yes… how did you…?”

“I--- that doesn’t matter. You look terrible. We should get you fixed up.” Emily said, her cheeks growing warm. She whipped around and briskly made her way to join Azari and Aira by the entrance. Naida followed them as Farran helped the elf hobble his way to the entrance stairs.

“Before I forget, I’m Tidus Stormsurfer, water elf.” The elf paused before straining his way past them, up the stairs and inside, using his spear like a walking stick. On his way he rang the bell that was situated right above the entrance.

“Class is in session, and yet no one showed up.” Emily muttered as the group followed Tidus down the center aisle of the classroom.

“I’d be more surprised if any dragon parents left their young in the care of an elf today.” Tidus replied, walking behind the teacher’s desk that sat at the front of the room. “Unless the light-warpers decided to show up for once.” 

He grumbled the second part, setting his spear against a bookshelf behind the desk. As he made to continue, chirping from above drew their attention. 

Two blurs, one blue and one white, zoomed and looped their way through the rafters, chattering away to each other. The blurs made their way to an outcrop, slowing enough to be recognized as very young dragons. 

One of the dragons was the color of turquoise and lavenders, with a fluffy cat-like tail. the other was the color of pearls, with pink wings and golden nubs for horns. Together, they watched the scene below intently. 

“Looks like two of your students decided to show up after all!” Azari laughed. 

“Ah, Miku and Lula.” Tidus replied, “These girls are… fun, but not quite the easiest pups to have in a classroom.” 

He ruffled the pink fur on the blue dragon’s head, who had flown down onto the dark blue and magenta cloth that was draped over the length of the desk. Upon setting eyes on her, the beagle sized dragon trotted over to Emily. Between the sparkle in her brilliant blue eyes and the small cooing sounds she made, Emily couldn’t resist the urge to scratch the dragon under both sides of her jaw.

“At least someone is having fun today.” Naida remarked, setting the basket down.

“Miku thrives off of affection.” Tidus said, pulling up a chair for himself, “Now, let’s get a look at those eggs.”

The elves busied themselves with filling the dragon teacher in on what had happened, Emily took Miku into her arms. The dragon leaned into her hand as she scratched in circles on her neck. Emily was taken by surprise at how smooth dragon scales were, like that of a snake, only thicker.

The second dragon, Lula, glided her way towards the pair, landing on Emily’s left shoulder. Up close, Emily could see that the pup wasn’t white, but really a very pale mint green. Despite Lula’s size, the dragon pup navigated Emily’s shoulders with ease. She rubbed up against Emily’s face and made a sound akin to a cat’s purr.

“They’re nearly ready to hatch.” Tidus said, holding one of the eggs and cutting off the magic he was using. “If I were to guess, that would be in a day’s time.”

Emily could sense the discomfort in the room as ears twitched, lips tightened and brows furrowed. Tidus gently set the egg back in the basket and ducked behind the desk. A drawer opened and closed, and he came back up with an hourglass in his hand.

“I have a suspicion that these eggs will hatch during their time with you. If that happens,” Tidus flipped the glass, and the pink sand within began falling, “turn the dayglass over, then you’ll know much time the baby has before…”

The elf trailed off, Miku whimpered in Emily’s arms. Meanwhile, Lula had set her sights on Emily’s amulet, reaching her front paw out and playfully swatting at the gem, her claws clinking against the surface and rattling the chain.

“You'll need a very rare book about dragons and magic,” Tidus said, drawing up a crest of a dragon’s head on a handheld chalkboard, “It’s called the Leabhar Draconna. My friend Sira runs an Inn in the Diamond Peaks, she’ll guide you to the library where it’s kept.”

Lula’s clinking of the amulet must have drawn attention, as Emily was taken from her charmed state by a sharp gasp. The human snapped her eyes to Tidus, whose eyes flashed between her and the amulet.

“You’re the human from the ball.” He said, stepping back. 

She felt a tingle rush down her spine and her hair stand on end. 

*

_ The elf looked at her with horror-stricken eyes. _

_ She reached out. _

_ “~~~ please!” _

_ * _

With the memory echoing in her mind, her eyes widened and heart dropped. She lowered her head and stiffened her shoulders, causing Lula to hop off. Dropping Miku, her hand hovered over her back left pocket.

“Yeah, and?” She said in a low voice through clenched teeth, staring directly into Tidus’ disturbed turquoise eyes. Emily’s friends looked between the two with panicked faces. Azari and Aira placed themselves in front of Emily. One by one they all began various explanations to the older elf.

The schoolroom suddenly felt very small to Emily, the pressure against her face and in her lungs became too much. She turned on her heel and briskly exited the building, making her way to the boardwalk and gasping in the morning air. Grasping the railing tightly she took in a few more breaths until feeling stable enough to stand on her own, even with the pawing at her legs.

Emily looked down to see Miku jumping up on one leg, and Lula clinging to the other, both chirping and looking at her with desperate eyes. Guilt stabbed at her heart, seeing their worried faces.

“Oh I’m sorry girls… Are you okay Miku? I didn’t mean to drop you.”

The blue dragon nodded, rubbing her face on Emily’s shin and purring. She gave them reassuring scratches behind the ears before heading towards the open green, the pups following at her heels.

Emily walked in the direction of the pond, where the wyvern Tidus arrived with had moved. The creature lounged in the water, chin resting on the island in the center where a stone statue of a dragon sat. One eye lazily opened to acknowledge their presence before the wyvern returned to her leisure.

A low growl resonated from the forest, turning Emily’s attention to the shadows at the side of the school. Sat in the shade was the yellow-green dragon that dove at the ship earlier, eyeing her with suspicion while biting at his front right leg.

“Hey buddy…” Emily said softly, crouching down and offering her hand, “... come on out, let me get a look at you.”

The dragon paused his biting and looked at her, stretching his neck out to take her all in. With an exhausted huff, he lifted himself and began limping towards her. As the dragon entered the light, Emily got a proper look at him. 

He was a stocky dragon, the way his front legs bowed out reminded her of a bulldog. Rich green stones sprouted from the pear green scales of his head, shoulders, thighs, and ankles. Similarly colored wings were opened to their full size, fading to green at the edge of the membrane and glittering like diamond dust. Smooth olive green horns reflected the sunlight like polished swords as the dragon lowered his short snout to her, allowing her to see the various shades of green in his fearful eyes. Her heart beat out of her chest from the thrill of being so close to such a fantastic beast.

Then she noticed the thorny black vine that wrapped around the dragon’s chest and down his front leg.

“Oh buddy, that’s gotta hurt. Let me just---”

The dragon growled at her and backed away. Miku and Lula stood behind Emily, peeking around her to the adult and making peeping sounds. The dragon lashed his thick tail, the three large green gemstones running down it refracted speckles of light into her eyes.

Emily tried again, slowly closing the distance between herself and the dragon, whispering reassuring words to calm the bristling scales on his neck. The dragon moved his head around to her side, sniffing at her. When the dragon had a good look at her ears, his shoulders instantly relaxed and the fear in his eyes washed away into trust. 

“That’s it buddy! Could I take a look now?” Emily asked softly, reaching both hands towards the dragon. He slowly reached a paw out to her in response. 

Gently, Emily took the limb and moved closer to the dragon. She looked for any way to unravel the neon green thorns, careful not to agitate the tightly wound tangle too much. Pursing her lips, Emily reached into her back left pocket, pulling out her swiss army knife. With a click of a tab, the blade shot out from one end of the blue resin handle.

The dragon’s eyes went wide and he snarled at her, leaning away.

“Shh shh it’s okay.” Emily said, looking the dragon in the eye and taking the paw again, she set to work.

Her blade cut through the plant like paper as she worked her way up the dragon’s body. Before long, the thorns had been reduced to a pile of severed vines. The dragon shook the soreness from his leg and looked at her with glee. Emily retracted the blade and pocketed her knife, smiling with the creature and letting a laugh slip through.

“There, isn’t that better?” Emily said, scratching the dragon’s white lower jaw and throat, getting a resonating purr in response.

Suddenly, the dragon’s content rumbles became low growls, and his scales bristled up. His pupils became needle-thin slits as he pushed past her.

“Thorne it’s alright, it’s just me.” Tidus’ voice came from the green, Emily’s friends stood just behind him. The dragon, Thorne, hissed and pushed his body in front of Emily. Each attempt that was made by the elves to approach was met with bared teeth and rattling scales.

Emily shrieked and ducked when the dragon roared, slamming the crystal club of his tail on the ground, leaving a sizeable crater. Thorne crouched and dug his olive green claws into the earth, letting out one last hiss before charging.

Thorne didn’t get far however, the wyvern body-slammed herself into his side, knocking the stout dragon off course. Tidus took the opportunity to pull Emily to the group as the wyvern proceeded to hiss and flare her crest. 

“Are you alright?” The elf asked, moving her between himself and the group.

“Yeah, he’s just p---.” Emily’s hand was on her heart, she could hardly get the sentence out. They could only observe the exchange between the winged reptiles. 

The wyvern bristled the fin atop her head and hissed one last time, driving the stout and strong Thorne to take flight. He stopped midair to cast a worried and sorrowful look Emily’s way, then taking off over the trees and towards the mountains.

“Thank you Athena. Go get some rest now, we’ve a long day ahead of us.” Tidus said as the wyvern trudged back to the pond. With a sigh he turned to the group.

"Once you all free those dragons, everything will return to how it’s meant to be, I promise.”

Emily’s jaw clenched, her hands shooting to her temples as the headache returned. She hissed and curled in on herself once again.

*

_ With her head hung low, she was led through a burning forest. _

_ “Call the water dragons.” _

_ She hesitated. _

_ “Call them now.” The sorceress levitated the egg, black veins of magic crawling up the shell. “Or the baby will have an early birthday.” _

*

Emily gasped once again, her face turned towards the sky. Tidus and Azari each had a hand on her shoulders, stabilizing her as the rest looked on, bewildered.

“Fire. There’s a fire in a forest.”

“What kind of forest?” Tidus asked, looking at her with urgency.

“Uh… willow, I think?”

“Then you have to go. Now.” Tidus urged, Emily’s friends agreeing and starting back to Naida’s boat.

“I wish you well, stay safe!” Tidus said after them before running back inside the school. 

Before Emily knew it, they were all boarded on Naida’s ship and setting sail. She looked back as the school drew further away, Miku and Lula leaping onto the wyvern’s back. Together they hopped and waved their little paws to her. Emily waved back to the pups until the rocks blocked them from view.

  
  


~*~

It had been at least five hours since the sun had crossed its peak. As the ride through the mountains grew ever longer, it became apparent to Emily that the carnage had reached well into the mountain range. Several bridges were destroyed, chunks of the landscape sustained craters, looking like they were punched in by giant fists. And spires of rock were forced into crumbling cliff sides.

Needless to say, the path was treacherous. Farran took great care while using his magic to move the wood and crystal carriage he and Aira had crafted. The wind elf sketched in her invention book while Naida watched, and Azari was sound asleep on Emily’s shoulder.

“So, what’s the deal with the witch?” Emily asked, Azari jerking awake. The silence became stiff, Naida and Aira glancing between each other, neither too eager to remember the woman. 

“Why do you ask?” Naida asked back, wrapping an arm under the basket.

“You all mentioned you knew her when you were younger.”

Beside her, Farran sighed and spoke for them.

“Elvendale… isn’t free of evil.”

_ I am well acquainted with that concept. _

“Occasionally, people get… frustrated when their magic doesn’t work in the way they want.” He continued, “The expectations set upon them go to their head, and instead of working harder and training, they seek out easier methods.”

“What does that mean?” Emily raised a brow.

“Ragana Phoenixchase was from a family of very powerful fire elves, yet she was born with very weak magic. One can imagine the kind of pressure she was under her whole life.”

“I remember hearing the she failed the Tástáil Draíochta five times.” Aira added, closing her book on her pencil. Emily dramatically blinked and raised her eyebrows.

“What’s that?” Emily asked, not bothering to try and pronounce the name.

“It’s a test all elven children go through at the end of each schooling year, and it lasts for two weeks.” Naida explained, “Students from across Elvendale are brought to the palace to be assessed by one of the crowns for their placement in the next year. The king is usually the one who gives the final judgment.”

They fell silent, the sound of vines growing took over as Farran passed the carriage over a ravine, none of them wanted to break his focus.

“One year, our class was taken to the palace for the test, but the queen was judging that year.” Naida continued, looking off into the distance. Emily felt Azari’s ear flick against her hair, the elf casting her eyes to the side.

“So, what happened?” Emily pressed, Naida and Aira looked expectantly to Azari. The fire elf shifted beside Emily and hummed.

“Queen Oriana… she wasn’t too happy after the fire elves in our class tested. I think Ragana wasn’t expecting the queen to be judging that year, and she got nervous, doing worse than she normally would. In the end, the crown had Ragana demoted a class, which doesn’t usually happen. I offered to help Ragana, since I was placed in the advanced and gifted course---”

“---All of us were Azari.” Farran interjected when Azari’s tone started becoming boastful. Her ears flicked as she came down from her tangent.

“Well, she refused to let me help her.” Azari quickly finished.

“No one heard from her for years, her family claimed that she was training. But it’s very clear now that that was not the case.” Farran said, jerking the carriage to avoid some falling rocks.

“Instead of working hard to build up her magic, we’re assuming she went the easy route and drank it.” Naida said.

“People can drink magic?”

Naida nodded, holding the basket tighter against her body.

“It’s said that the Shadow Fountain lures passersby in by speaking to their innermost desires. It whispers things, gets inside your head, encouraging you to drink. Although the waters bestow powerful black magic upon the drinker, it twists the mind to become obsessed with their desires.” 

“That’s how it traps you into returning for all eternity.”


	4. The Starlight Inn

Stepping into the Inn, Emily felt at ease in its cozy atmosphere. Azari pointed to a water mill wheel that spun lazily just inside the doors. Pink and green crystals were placed about the walls, giving off a soft glow.

“This inn is gorgeous!” Naida breathed, looking all about the lobby to a seating area, where a fire crackled within a grey stone fireplace.

“I’m just glad we have no more stairs to climb!” Aira said, dropping into a chair with plump plum cushions. “There are soft seats, a warm fire, everything is great.”

Emily nodded, remembering how Farran had the group exit the carriage after he got a particularly bad cramp in his arm. Without the earth elf to drive them, they were left to trek the remaining pathway of steep stairs.

“You hardly walked at all!” Azari commented, referring to when Aira had used her magic to skip entire sections of the path. Then she would wait atop an archway for the group to catch up, and then leap her way to the next one.

The group jumped as the front doors latched shut, blocking out the waning evening light.

“Well it’s about time you five got here.”

A woman with a bright green ponytail stepped between Emily and Azari. She wrapped an arm around both girls, the metal studs of her leather bracelet digging into Emily’s shoulder. A purple dutch braid ran across the right side of her head, the color also showing up in her bangs. Her eyes shone red in the firelight as she led the girls to the seating area, nudging Azari to sit with the other three elves.

“You must be Sira, thank you so much for hosting us.” Farran spoke, grabbing a pouch from his belt. Aira and Naida did the same.

“Put that money away.” Sira groaned with a lopsided grin. Emily shifted, holding the straps of her bag tight. 

“Would any of you like something to drink?” The elf perked up, “I just got a new shipment of Honeysnap mead.”

Farran and Naida accepted the offer, and Sira turned to Emily.

“What about you?” She said, giving Emily a shake.

“Um, no thanks, I don’t like alcohol.” Emily answered, her voice weary with how nonchalant the elf was acting. Sira nodded and turned to the group by the fireplace and chuckled. 

“Excuse us for a minute.”

Sira took Emily and briskly guided her to a hall that branched from the lobby. Just before they reached a staircase that led to the rooms, the elf stopped. With a swish of her hand, a secret room was revealed within the dark oak wall. Brushing aside the green curtain that served as a door, she pushed Emily into the room and leaned close.

“You might want to cover those ears,” She whispered, brushing aside a brown lock.

“Uh, okay?” Emily stammered.

Sira’s lips twitched upward and gave a quick nod. Doing a double-take, the elf tucked the amulet into Emily’s shirt, and drew the curtain shut without another word. She listened as Sira began speaking, her voice drawing further away as she returned to the common.

Emily shuffled within the confines of the room. But with its ceiling three feet above her head, and the walls barely wider than her outstretched arms, she’d say it was more like a closet. With a huff, Emily set her bag down and began to rifle through it. After a minute of searching, Emily pulled a scarf from a side zipper. Unfurling it, she traced a thumb over the dark and light blue Chinese dragons that were woven into the otherwise white silk. With a longing gaze, Emily recalled that it had been given to her by a dear friend for her birthday earlier that year.

“Why did you do it Riley?” Emily whispered to herself. Shoving down the surge of emotion, Emily brought the scarf to her head. Wrapping it over her forehead and ears snugly, she tied it off and let the remainder drape over her shoulder with her braid.

Zipping up her bag, Emily rose from the floor, and nearly stepped beyond the curtain, when voices could be heard coming down the stairs.

_ “---capturing any dragon that drew near to free the queen.” _Both voices were clearly male, and coming towards the door.

_ “Am I hearing you correctly? An elf had them?” _

They had come to a halt just outside the closet.

_ “Yes, a wicked sorceress was leading them to the Shadowlands.” _

_ “Hey!” _ Sira’s voice cut in, _ “You get out of there, employees only.” _

_ “I am an employee!” _

_ “Did the earth magic cut-off do something to your head? Begone!” _

_ “I need my cloak!” _

_ “It’s behind the check-in, now get!” _

The male grumbled something to his friend, and they both walked from the curtain. Emily listened closely to be sure that they exited the inn entirely before releasing the breath she was holding. Leaning back on the wall next to the entryway, she gazed to the green crystal that lit the space. As she was about to slip off into her thoughts, something abruptly pulled her back to reality.

“Is… a baby crying?” Emily wondered to herself.

Whatever it was, the wailing pulled at her heartstrings. She swung her bag onto her shoulder and rushed out of the closet to the seating area. As Emily rounded the corner, the shrill crying all but stopped.

Curled on the table was a chihuahua sized dragon with dull orange scales and cloudy brown jewels down the spine, its eyes sealed. The baby clumsily beat its wings, which were easily twice the size of the body, and attempted to crawl towards Emily.

With the bewildered looks still stuck on their faces, the elves all looked to her as the baby’s head followed her around the table. Seating herself in front of the fireplace with Azari, she felt her heart swell at the baby’s chirping and head bobbing. The baby struggled to crawl over the fragments of shell, which had turned from opalescent white to glittering topaz orange. It wiggled and made cooing sounds as its little claws pawed in the human’s direction.

“Don’t touch him!”

Emily didn’t realize that her hands were reaching out to the pup until Sira’s sharp voice snapped her out of the trance. Retracting her hands was made infinitely more difficult as the baby whined and squeaked.

“He’s very weak, and we don’t want any more magic muddying him up.” Sira said, leaning back into her chair. “It’s already worrying enough that he became a fire dragon instead of a royal dragon.”

“I should’ve left it in the basket.” Azari groaned, her ears trembling and a look of regret in her eyes.

“While true, there was no way of knowing the hatch was happening until your magic was being siphoned.” Sira replied. The sound of the crackling fire taking over.

Naida gasped and turned over the dayglass with a somber expression. All six of them watched the baby fumble around the table, tail knocking the big pieces of shell to the floor. Emily’s hands were restless, going from neatly folded in her lap to rubbing her face and then back again.

Soon, smoke started drifting from the baby’s nostrils as a cry built up in his little body. Before he could make a sound or the elves around her could protest, Emily snatched the dragon and held him close, petting the scales behind his head. The baby cuddled closer into her collarbone, she tenderly cooed at the baby while the elves settled down and continued to talk.

“Your friend Tidus mentioned we would need a book.” Naida said. Sira nodding with an affirming hum.

“The Leabhar Draconna. It’s in the ancient library at the Secret Marketplace, which is just at the edge of the Valley of the Lost.”

“Then we should get going.” Farran insisted as he stood, dayglass in hand.

“Right.” Sira said, “Traversing the peaks, at night, all while having no idea where you’re going.”

Emily held the pup tighter and looked out a nearby window. The sun had fully set, leaving the land in starlit darkness.

“You mean there?” Emily asked, pointing to a patch of twinkling lights, high up on a distant ridge.

“Good eye.” Sira said with a grin, “Too bad you can’t fly though, wouldn’t that be wonderful? Who came up with the rule that earth elves have to plod the land on foot?”

“That’s a rule?” Emily asked, perplexed at the notion. Sira made a face and waved her hand in a balancing motion

“Not particularly. But you know, earth elf, earth travel.” Sira said, crossing her legs and leaning further back in her chair. Emily wrinkled her nose and continued stroking the pup in her arms.

“But---” Sira continued, “---at least I have an airship.”

Emily’s eyes widened, remembering the many kinds of airships she had seen in Athelney. However, she couldn’t recall anything similar around the inn. Azari must have had the same thought, as the fire elf mentioned it soon after.

“It’s being fixed at the market. I was going so fast I accidentally crashed it into a---.” Sira cut off, looking at Emily with an awestruck expression. The human returned the look, then Sira pointed to the baby in her arms.

“I thought that was only a myth.” She muttered.

Looking down, the baby shimmered, his scales turning into a brilliant marigold orange and his underbelly into a light red. The jewels on his back became a rich ruby color, and the horn nubs that were once black were now chipping away to a glittering gold. The baby stretched his neck and wiggled his wings, turning his chin up to Emily and making little rumbles. The next moment, Emily found herself looking into the most beautiful orange eyes she’d ever seen.

“Oh hi hi hi, look at you!” Emily gasped in a sing-song manner, the baby mimicking her sounds.

“Looks like you all won’t need the dayglass after all.” Sira commented, taking the object from the table and setting it on the floor beside her. “Which means you aren’t on a time crunch anymore. But first---” Sira gestured to another set of stairs. 

“You need some sleep, we have a long journey tomorrow.”

  
  


~*~

  
  


With the final pillow fluffed, Emily’s makeshift nest of bedding was complete. The dragon pup swatted an empty applesauce container across the floor, chirping and beating his wings all the while. When he grew bored of that, he took to sprinting around the room, joyfully chirping as he jumped onto Aira and Farran’s shared bed.

“Okay buddy, let’s settle down.”

Emily took a step to the baby, who, with a playful wiggle, leaped away from her reach to Azari and Naida’s shared bed. There, he crawled all over the water elf, who lazily scratched him behind the ear.

“He’s the opposite of settled.” Aira said, her head lying comfortably on a half-asleep Farran’s chest.

“First couple hours of being in the world, it’s an exciting time.” Emily said, watching the baby slink to the chest at the foot of the bed where the basket was set. His orange scales rustled and he shifted his wings, straining his neck to sniff at the eggs.

“You’re just a spark of joy aren’t’cha?” Emily said with a content grin. Then, she felt a sudden fondness overtake her mind.

_ ‘Spark’ _

The feeling lingered as Emily looked at the dragon pup, continuing to poke his nose at the eggs. She laughed and scratched the baby under his chin.

“Spark, what a perfect name.”

Spark briefly looked to her and squealed with a smile, flaring his wings and turning back to his previous action. With the baby calm, Emily scooped him into her arms, holding the dragon with his back to her. Spark stuck a claw towards the basket and looked to her with a peep.

“Yeah buddy, those are your...”

A soft buzz ran down her body.

“Sisters…” She finished with a calm smile, “Those are your sisters.”

The feeling soon faded from her body. Emily took Spark to her bed, setting him in the divet of pillows, being careful around his oversized wings. Just as she was about to settle, rattling from the open window caught her attention.

Emily stepped to the window and placed her hands on the shutters, almost certain that she could feel a presence there. But all she could see was the starlit mountain range, and a golden feather in the windowsill flowerbed.

Humming to herself, she latched the shutters closed.

*

_ His claws gripped the stone walls of the building, watching as the human laid around his brother within the dimly lit room. Once certain everyone inside was asleep, his scales shifted and his cloaking dropped, allowing the moonlight to gleam off his white and gold body. _

_ Looking up he spotted his sister, her form shimmering into sight as she gently landed on the rooftop. She stretched her grand, spectral colored wings and laid down on the polished wood, white scales reflecting rainbows with each huffing breath. Pushing himself from the window, he climbed his way up to meet her. _

_ Heaving himself over the edge, he purred a greeting. His sister lifted her head to face him, locks of white fur covering a tired eye. Lazily she purred back before setting her head back down. Trudging along the rooftop he dropped next to her, laying his chin to rest on the soft white fur that ran down her back. _

_ The moonlight was their only solace. _


	5. Dragons to Save: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I am so sorry for the late update everyone! Due to school and writer's block these past couple of months, I ended up falling behind on writing buffer chapters. I'm still behind right now, but I promise that Part 3 will be extra long. The chapters after that are all going to be shorter. Except for "Down a Dark Path", catching up on buffer chapters shouldn't be too hard.

Sira had the group up and on their way at the first rays of dawn. Emily had tucked Spark into her backpack, and Naida took charge of the remaining eggs. For nearly an hour they had hiked through a valley and a few steep trails, avoiding as much carnage as they could. While trekking, Emily kept nervously glancing at the basket, worried that the eggs would hatch or fall at any point. But, she reminded herself that Naida was being as careful as she could. On one trail, they had to jump over a place where the path had fallen into the ravine below. 

Emily had made it across, despite the extra weight on her front. Azari was next to cross, and had lost her balance on the landing. Emily reflexively grabbed her arm but overestimated how hard she had to pull, resulting in both girls tumbling to the ground.

Emily’s face flushed and Azari stammered, Aira making a clever remark about them. Displeased grunting came from Spark as the little dragon pushed on the fire elf. Emily scrambled to her feet, helping Azari up as well.

“Take care on this next pass!” Sira called back, standing at the base of a sheer cliff with a chain of ladders leading up. The elf expertly scaled the ladders, then jumped to climb the rock face with her bare hands, sparingly using her magic as an assist. Emily gritted her teeth and looked to Naida, who held a similar expression. Aira came up to them, taking the basket and jumping. Emily stiffened when she saw the eggs wobble.

“It’s alright.” Naida put a hand on her shoulder, “Aira can fly, so they’ll be safe.”

“She can?” Emily asked. Looking back up to the top of the rock face, Aira had softly landed on the shelf, letting her legs dangle over the edge as she waited for the group to catch up. Naida went ahead, climbing the ladder behind Farran and Azari.

“Snuggle up.” Emily said to Spark, who promptly ducked into the backpack and curled up on the soft blanket inside. She zipped up the bag most of the way and moved it to her back, scaling the ladders with ease. When she had gotten to the third ladder, Sira’s whooping grew louder as the elf’s feet landed on the rock with a hard thud.

“Oh this is amazing it feels like I’m flying!” She cheered, hanging on to a vine with one hand, offering her other hand to Emily.

“I’d love to, but---” Emily nodded her head to her bag, “---precious cargo.”

“It looks to me like your precious cargo wants to learn how to fly.” Sira chuckled. Emily’s heart skipped and she looked over her shoulder with a start. But all she saw was her closed bag.

“I'm kidding! Wow humans _ are _ easy to get a rise out of, who knew? See you at the top kiddo!” Sira laughed again, running up the rock face and jumping over the ledge to stand with the others.

Emily was the last one to the top. She shifted the bag back around to her front, letting Spark peak his head out. Beside her, she felt Azari, Naida and Farran tense up

“Hold steady. Don’t step on any loose planks, and whatever you do, don’t look down.”

Emily looked up, and her heart plummeted to the bottom of the ravine they were about to cross. Strung across it was a rickety old rope bridge, the other end fading into the fog beyond. 

“Oh Good Lord above this is a deathtrap.” Emily said to herself, holding her bag to her chest. Spark retreated into the bag with a scared peep after one look at the bridge. She watched as the elves followed Sira, all but Aira looking as uneasy as her.

With a deep breath, Emily stepped on after them.

~*~

  
  


“Could we hurry this along?” Farran called out over the wind.

“We’re nearly there, why?” Sira replied from the front.

“Emily is one bridge shake away from crushing my wrist.”

“Sorry.” Emily rasped, loosening her grip on Farran’s arm. She instead tried to focus on the sound of bells being carried in on the breeze. Before long, they all shakily stepped off onto solid ground, Emily making to get as far away from the bridge as possible. Not too far ahead and through the trees, they could see flags and colorful buildings. Sira draped a blanket of flowering moss over Naida’s basket. Making sure Spark was secure in the bag and Emily’s ears were covered by the headscarf, she signaled for them to follow.

Emily’s head was on a swivel as Sira wove them through the mix of elves and animals. A blacksmith worked nearby, music drifted from elsewhere, and conversation could be heard from all around her. Animals and races, some she was familiar with, and others that were completely lost on her, ran stands of their own, alongside the elves.

“Flamey!” Azari gasped as the fox hopped onto a stand with the sign for the bakery, giving the fox a quick scratch between the shoulders. Emily smiled at the duo as she continued on past.

~*~

Sira guided them through a hallway that branched into studies and smaller libraries. Making a single turn, the group found themselves at the heart of the library. 

A grand, circular room lined with thousands of books laid before them, branching hallways appearing between the sections. The centerpiece of the room was a thick and twisting tree trunk that grew up through the ceiling. Sira strode to the tree with the group in tow, talking about how she came to the library all the time when she was a kid. Emily slipped away to check on Spark, finding herself in the tree’s shadow.

“Hey buddy, how are you holding up?” She said, opening the flap and peeking inside. Spark stuck his snout through the opening and gave her a grunt. As Emily turned to join her friends once again, a soft purple glow caught her eye.

It was the light of a crystal, suspended in the air above an empty book podium.

Curiosity peaked, Emily wandered into the darkness, holding a whimpering Spark tightly. The pup whimpered and shivered at the cold breeze that ran through the corridor. 

Emily jumped as five more crystals lit up the darkness. Their soft purple light illuminated a figure cloaked in plant life that stood in the shadows beyond the podium. From the light of the crystals, Emily could just make out gold lips against a dark complexion, which was broken by what seemed to be a light colored scar creeping down their chin and across their face.

Emily’s breath came out in puffs of vapor, and static seemed to fill her head. As she opened her mouth to speak, the figure held their finger up to shush her, disturbing dreadlocks made from lighter green plant life, which bloomed tiny red and orange flowers. Slowly, they pointed to the podium, which now had an open book on it. With unsteady, yet heavy steps, Emily followed the silent order.

She blinked.

She stood before the book, and her eyes flicked to the right hand page. 

To where an indigo figure stood, profile to the reader, in front of a crowd of soldiers, colored two shades darker than the parchment.

_ Oriana. _

With the silhouette of the queen in full view, Emily could see that her horns had six four-pointed stars running up the length. Her elven ears were outlined against her head, clearly pinned. In an outstretched hand, a black symbol that resembled a flame was held. The flame was aimed towards a blacked out figure on the opposite page.

This figure was in a lying down position, propped up on one elbow as the other was raised over its head. But where Emily expected to find triangular outline on the head like on the frontmost row of soldiers, she instead found a crescent. 

Black crawled into the edges of her vision, and she braced herself on the podium while staring at the page.

“Emily!”

Emily jolted and blinked. The book was replaced with a whining Spark who was pawing at her face. Head on a swivel, Emily saw no sign of the cloaked figure in the now warm and brightly lit corner.

“Hey, human girl, what are you doing back here?” Sira walked up to Emily with a scroll tucked in her belt. Before Emily could come up with an excuse, the elf picked Spark up and put him back in the backpack.

“I’m needed elsewhere.” Sira leaned close, putting a hand on Emily’s back and guiding her out. “Which means you get to go to the Shadowlands on your own.”

Emily’s lips tightened into a line as she sucked in air through her nose. Sira quickly continued as they rounded the tree.

“Don’t worry though! These guys know where they’re going.” Sira urged Emily back to the group and making her way to a different corridor than they came from. “Stay strong.”

“Strong?” Azari repeated with a smirk, wrapping her arms around Emily’s right arm and standing straight. “We’re so strong---”

“---There are higher mountains, deeper gorges, rickitier bridges, more of those eggs are going to hatch, and you only have one human.” Sira said from the doorway, counting the perils on her fingers. “Don’t lose yourself to any curses now!”

With that, the elf waved and disappeared down the hallway, while the group headed down the other.

~*~

Azari held Emily’s hand tightly as they wove through the marketplace once again, this time on a quest for provisions, as per Farran’s suggestion.

“I want to stop at the cart for Johnny’s bakery before meeting the others at the trailmouth.” The fire elf said over her shoulder, sidestepping with Emily to the back of the decently long line.

Emily fiddled with the scarf tied in her hair, assuring it covered a good portion of where an elf’s ears would lay. When she wasn’t doing that, she counted down the people in front, and snuck peaks in her bag to check on Spark, slipping him snacks if he whined. She even took to gazing down alleyways while the line crept along. 

She was momentarily startled from her pastime when a quintet of goblins dressed as soldiers passed by, all holding stacks of paper and speaking to each other in their gibberish-like language. Instinctively Emily stepped back, hidden from the alley by a tent next to the bakery cart.

Hugging the backpack, Emily took a breath before peeking around the corner. There, she saw two goblins, one standing on the other, brushing paste onto the side of a building on the intersection corner, and smoothing a paper over it. When the pair had left, she glanced to Azari, who had her eyes set on the line ahead. Holding her eyes on the elf for a moment, Emily snuck a step into the alley, before slipping in entirely.

It only took a few steps for Emily to cross the intersection and reach the paper. When she did, she could swear that her heart stopped.

It was like looking in a mirror.

Up top of the parchment, was the eye symbol, followed by large, neatly drawn Daeln script. Below that was the ink bust, and below that was what Emily recognized to be Elvendale numerals.

_ “I pity the poor thing.” _

Whipping her head over her shoulder, Emily saw two elves walking down the adjacent alley. Before they could spot her, she had darted back across the intersection and stood with her back against the face of a boulder.

_ “I know, such a young soul...” _A second female voice replied.

_ “That scream, I hear it every night when I lay down to rest.” _ The pair’s shadows grew smaller as they approached the bounty poster. 

_ “I do too. Ever since that night, I can’t sleep without dreaming of it.” _

The speakers came into view, stopping to look at the poster. One of them, a woman with a dark brown complexion and milk chocolate hair held in two buns, brushed a knuckle across the cheek of Emily’s image.

“That poor creature was so stricken in terror that even I could feel it.”

The other woman leaned in to examine the poster, her dusty pink hair draping to cover her tan face. “This is absurd.” She stated, straightening back up. 

Her friend shook her head in disapproval, and said with a curled lip, “Fifteen-thousand irleline for her capture.” 

Emily’s world stopped.

_ No. _

_ No... _

_ Nononononono _

*

_ He towered over her. _

_ “Did you really think you could escape?” _

_ Never had she felt more loathed and resented. _

*

“I wish I helped.” The darker skinned woman said bitterly, crossing her muscular arms and flicking an ear.

“You would have been prosecuted.”

“And? If that was my child I would have wanted some soul to have mercy.”

“Well, wherever she is, I hope she’s alright.”

With that, the women were on their way, oblivious to the extra set of ears that had heard their every word.

“Thank you.”

Emily fled the second those words slipped her tongue, ignoring the women’s startled gasps. 

In an instant she had appeared behind Azari, who was placing rolls of bread and sealed bowls of soup into a sack. Turning to her, Azari smiled and handed her a fruit filled pastry.

“Come on, or Farran will have a fit.”

The elf’s cheery tone made her ignorance to Emily’s mini adventure clear. But Emily didn’t mind it.

She was just happy to be back.

~*~

“Summer in the hills, those hazy days I do remember---” Emily sang as she walked up the path with Spark held in her outstretched arms. 

“---We were running still, had the whole world at our feet---” The dragon kicked and flapped his wings with glee while chirping along, horribly out of rhythm. 

“---Watching seasons change our roads were lined with adventure. Mountains in the way, couldn’t keep us from the sea---” As she sang, Emily could catch the elves casting amused looks back to the duo.

“Here we stand open arms, this is home where we are. Ever strong in the world that we made.” Emily continued singing, rounding the switchback.

“I still hear you in the breeze, see your shadows in the trees. Holding on, memories never change.” Emily’s voice trailed off as something caught her eye, turning her singing into a long gasp. 

Casting a shadow onto the crystal blue water, was a floating island capped with crystalline trees. A blue structure was built from the highest point in the island’s center, the tower rising high above the rest of the building. Waterfalls raced off the island’s edges, causing mist to billow over the ring of land that the island seemed to have risen from.

“The book says that dragons have always been drawn to the island.” Aira said, stepping up behind a starstruck Emily. “When dragons and elves forged their alliance, it was converted into a sanctuary for the races, with elves decorating the land in tribute.”

“Beautiful.” Emily breathed, bringing Spark close and pointing out to the island, the little dragon making an intrigued sound. Aira tapped her shoulder, making a motion for Emily and herself to catch up to the group. Before long, a ruined bridge made from once ornately carved stone came into view. Emily was the first to step up to it, only stopping when she looked over the edge in curiosity.

Nothing.

Emily, looking down into the gorge, could say without a doubt that it continued down forever. In fact, she could almost feel it trying to pull her down.

That is, until a hand came over her eyes and pulled her away.

“Don’t look down Emily.” Farran said, lifting his hand away and holding her arm firm, “This is the Abyss, a cursed relic from before Oriana and Kyrie’s reign.” 

“It’s said that if one looks at it for too long, it’ll crawl within and consume your soul.” Naida finished, stepping up behind Azari, who side-eyed the gorge from behind Farran. The earth elf reached a foot out, testing the stability of the bridge before setting his full weight on it.

“The bridge will hold.” He said, taking a hold of Azari’s arm, who held onto Naida’s.

“Snuggle up.” Emily said, zipping up her bag and taking Naida’s other arm. Together, they cautiously found their way around cracks and holes in the bridge, relying on Farran all the way. It didn’t help much that the wind had begun to violently pick up, causing rubble to fall from the bridge.

“Swiftly, swiftly now.” Aira urged.

“I understand what Farran meant by being crushed.” Naida whispered to herself, a tear pricking her eye.

“Sorry.” Emily whispered back, feeling like her own heartbeat could shake the bridge. 

The distant sound of roaring made Emily look up and to the sky ahead. Another squall shook the bridge, forcing them to stop and listen to the rapidly growing roaring. 

Bursting from the clouds came two dragons. One was a whip-thin purple dragon with four wings, who cast mighty bursts of air with each looping sweep. It performed barrel rolls and erratic flight patterns, briefly escaping the marigold dragon that clawed at its flank.

“Oh God.” Emily said through her teeth, eyes widening as the two dragons collided in midair. Both parties screamed and hissed in a fury of wings and claws, the marigold one spewing fire every which way on the rapid descent towards the bridge. After another moment of struggle, the purple dragon kicked the marigold one off and dove into the gorge below.

Emily’s scream had hardly left her throat before the marigold dragon violently landed against the bridge. Chunks of stone fell away and the bridge shifted to one side, but remained intact as its fall was halted.

“Get to the other side!” Emily shouted, snatching an egg from Naida’s basket while pushing ahead of the group in a half-sprint. She leapt over a large crack in the bridge’s base and set the egg in the low branches of a tree. While in the process of removing Spark from the bag and stroking his head, a vicious roar from the bridge caused her to turn over her shoulder.

And just barely catch the final moments of the dragon’s tail striking Aira across the head, sending her unconscious body tumbling into the Abyss.

“AIRA!” Emily’s screamed, abandoning Spark and the egg and soaring to the gorge’s edge. 

“EMILY NO!” Azari and Naida’s cries sounded with Spark’s.

Emily was halfway diving over when she was tackled to the side. She pushed Farran off of herself, both of them only watching as the remains of the bridge fell into the depths after their friend.

“Emily, Farran…” Naida said worriedly, bringing their attention to the dragon that was now on their side of the bridge.

“Goddamnit.” Emily cursed to herself, standing with Farran in a defensive position. Emily could now recognize the dragon as the one from her vision, only now it had on a pitch black helmet that turned the gemstone on its forehead a vile green. Smoke billowed from the dragon’s nostrils and open mouth, scales rattling as it carved up the ground. Turning a green-glazed eye to Azari and Naida with the eggs, the dragon snarled and started stalking to them.

“The helm Emily, we need to remove the helm!”

Emily grunted in response, grabbing the branch of a nearby tree and pulling with all her might. Checking over her shoulder, Azari was deflecting fireballs the nearing dragon sent her way. Meanwhile Naida set about dowsing the stray flames before they could spread.

“Farran! Grow a vine or-or-or something!”

“I can’t!” Farran said back frantically, coils of magic flying uselessy from his hands upon attempting a spell. Emily set her foot on the tree trunk and tugged the branch further with shaking hands, looking over her shoulder every second as the dragon circled around Azari and Naida. With wings flared, the dragon set its eyes on Spark, breaking into a gallop.

The baby dragon’s wail inspired a protective rage to swell in Emily. With a final shriek she tore the branch from the trunk and took a fist-sized rock into her hand. Reaching far behind her, the rock was sent streaking through the air. With an equally loud howl from the dragon, the rock struck its wing with a crack, forcing the creature to stumble off course.

Shrieking like a banshee Emily swung the branch in circles over her head, stomping and striking the grass as she did. Once the dragon turned its rage on her, she intensified her discordant display. Before the dragon could build enough fire to spit at her, the human charged with a final battle cry. Using the branch as a pole-vault, Emily landed behind the dragon’s head.

Gripping the dragon’s horns and locking her legs under its throat when it reared. Emily threw her weight around, forcing it to lose balance and topple over. With the dragon stunned, Emily took her knife out and sawed at the straps, quickly tearing the helmet from its head. The jewel returned to a brilliant red-violet color, and the dragon’s struggle immediately ceased.

Emily stumbled away from the dragon, glaring at the green runes that were etched on the helmet clenched in her hands. A few moments later, she hissed as the burning sensation on her palms finally registered.

“Emily---”

She never heard the rest. In the blink of an eye she was shoving the helmet into Farran’s hands and positioning them away from his body. 

She couldn’t see.

Only feel.

With a guttural scream she struck the helmet with her fist. Clawing at her face she stalked away from Farran, only to collapse and scream incomprehensible profanities with the elves left in stunned silence.

All that remained was Spark’s crying.

All that remained was her crying.

_ All over again. _

_ My fault. _

_ All over again. _

_ I let it happen. _

_ All over again. _

_ Another one gone. _

_ All over again. _

A hand on her shoulder followed by soothing warmth eased her out of the stupor. She found herself leaning into the body once her breathing slowed.

“Are you okay now?” Azari asked softly, bringing her hand, and the spell, to the back of Emily’s neck. The human shuddered and buried her face into the elf’s wild red curls, replying with a half-hearted hum and letting the breeze brush by.

“Oh by the greats, look!” Naida exclaimed in a soft whisper.

Emily lifted a tired eye, looking past Farran kneeling over the adult dragon’s wing, to see the egg she had set in the tree. It was now pure white with colorful spots and riding the breeze that brushed past. The spots soon faded, the shell cracked, and moments later a dull purple-grey body plopped onto the ground, bits of the egg raining onto her whimpering form. Upon Naida reaching out to comfort the baby, Spark dashed out in front of his sister, growling like a kitten with his oversized wings flared. When his back was turned, the adult dragon stretched its neck to sniff the hatchling, earning a swift swipe on the nose from Spark.

“Okay tough guy.” Emily said, reluctantly pushing herself from Azari and scooping Spark into an arm, “Let’s get you and your sister something to eat.”

Naida’s ear twitched, “Are you sure we should do that now? We ought to keep moving, right Farran?”

They all expectantly looked to the earth elf, who busied himself performing a spell on the dragon’s wing. But instead of a confident answer, the question drifted by him. It took some prompting until they were given an answer.

“By all means, take your time.” Farran said, his eyes distant and foggy. “Healing this wing will take awhile.”

~*~

An hour later, everyone had filled up on baked goods and fruit. Farran and Naida each took turns healing the dragon’s wing, which proved to be a more difficult task than anticipated, as they could only manage to partially heal the bone. Meanwhile, Emily had nearly exhausted herself retrieving the baby wind dragon, which she had named Fledge, from the fifth tree the gorgeous lavender pup had gotten herself stuck in.

“You and your brother are gonna have to duke it out for space.” Emily said with a weak grin, spooning the last bit of crushed pear into Fledge’s eager mouth and tucking her next to her brother.

“Awoo-oo?” Spark cooed, putting a tiny paw in her hand and looking up at her.

Emily looked down at her irritated pink palms, the burns still hot and slightly tender. Fledge leaned in as well, making a “brrrp” sound before licking the wound.

“I’m okay guys, it’s just a burn, nothing to worry about.” Emily said, petting them with the back of her hand before swinging the backpack onto her front, joining Naida and the fire dragon at the edge of the Shadowlands. Emily looked ahead to where the sparse fluffy white clouds turned a stormy green and brown, casting a gloomy shadow across the barren waste of black rock and thorny bushes. Looming on the horizon, silhouetted against the green sky, was the castle, and faint shapes of dragons flying about.

“Farran will be a minute.” Azari said, brushing past and patting the fire dragon’s shoulder. Turning over her shoulder, Emily saw Farran standing with his back to them.

“I’ll be right back.” Emily said, setting the backpack by Azari’s feet, Naida and the fire elf giving each other silent looks. Emily made her way over to the forlorn earth elf, who was hugging himself while looking out over the Abyss. Emily reached a hand out to comfort him.

“We’re horrible friends for not going after her.” Farran’s despairing tone halted her. The grief that washed off of him sent her stomach into a twist.

“We wouldn’t have survived if we did.” She said, touching the back of his arm. Leaning around, Emily caught the haunted look in his eyes, which were brimming with tears.

“You’re right,” Farran replied, his voice threatening to crumble, “besides… if the fall didn’t claim her… the bridge…”

He put a hand over his mouth curling over he squeezed his eyes shut and the tears began falling. Rising onto her toes, Emily wrapped Farran in a hug, which was quickly returned. Emily felt her throat tighten as she recalled the days following her grandmother’s death.

The aimless wandering.

The forgetful remarks.

The city turning up for the funeral service.

The all-consuming pit that resided in her empty eyes.

The looks of pity that were cast her way.

Each day blinking by, and everyone around her moving on.

_ Pretending that nothing happened. _

“It’s rough, I get it. I wish there was a way to just remove the pain.” She said lowly, resting her chin on Farran’s shoulder. “But, the world stops for no one.”

Farran nodded, pulling himself together and straightening up, looking to the gorge once again. Emily put a palm on his shoulder, following his gaze then looking back to him.

“The only thing we _ can _do, is move forward.”

Sighing, Farran tried to force his ears up, and followed Emily back to where the rest of their party was waiting. With dread in their hearts, they looked ahead to the barren waste, and with the fire dragon in the lead, they crossed the boundary between the Shadowlands, and the rest of Elvendale.

The moment Emily crossed into the wasteland, an ice cold hand gripped her heart. Static chills were sent in waves down her spine while she struggled to cling on to the air being stolen from her throat.

“Em?”

“Emily are you okay?”

Emily stared at the ground in terror, shaking arms holding tight around her body. Slowly, what could only be described as desperate screams buzzed through her head, overlapped with rushed muttering of a woman’s voice.

“Emily!”

Naida’s voice shook Emily aware, the chaos in her mind dying down significantly. Shuddering, her eyes wandered to the crumbling pieces of a once grand statue. Emily forced herself to press on, following the pieces until she made it to the final one. 

Leaned on the stone, along with her neck and the tops of her shoulders, was the worn face of a woman. Tarnished gold wrapped around her head in a crown-helmet hybrid, and immortalized in the marble, was a stern, yet sympathetic, expression. Bright green water trickled from one eye and down the statue’s cheek and chin, collecting in a pool on the rocks below.

“Emily, what’s wrong?” Naida asked. Azari, Farran and the fire dragon leaning in with concerned faces. Tearing her eyes away from the woman’s ruined statue, Emily shuddered and looked on with empty eyes.

“Something… bad, happened here.”


	6. Dragons to Save: Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, a quick note before the chapter. After this update I'll be going on hiatus for awhile, reason being to focus on college and to catch up on writing chapters. I've also been feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to balance so many things while also having not the best focus when it comes to the simplest tasks. On a good day it takes me three hours to do something that would take a normal person one hour. And I've begun to see that it's starting to wear away at the quality of my work.
> 
> Thank you all for reading so far, I really appreciate the support! I'll be a bit more active when it comes to my artwork, links are on my profile. More chapters will hopefully be coming out when summer comes, so keep an eye out for that.

_ Gently, Aira was set on a soft patch of moss growing on one of the many rock ledges within the Abyss. The cloaked figure that had carried her down stood, turning to four others that clung to the walls. _

_ “We leave her here.” _

_ “But general---” _

_ “We leave her here.” The figure repeated, his voice held firm as he adjusted his hood around long pointed ears. Pointing to three of the figures, he ordered them to free the captured dragons that the witch had stationed within her domain. When they had left, he pointed to the figure that spoke. _

_ “You, summon the wind dragon here.” _

_ The figure hesitated, then produced a scepter from their belt that had a carved sphere dangling from a thread on the end. Holding it out from their body they spun the ball, making it emit a whistling sound, and let out a high-pitched call to go with it. A moment passed, and from high above a faint reply echoed down to the pair, distant wingbeats following soon after. _

_ Threading the scepter back into their belt, the figure turned to their leader, who had started on his way. _

_ “And what will you do?” _

_ The general turned over his shoulder, summoning a vine with olive green magic and stepping onto it. Gesturing to the stirring wind elf, he spoke. _

_ “I shall watch over the rest of them.” _

  
  


~*~

  
  


Night had fallen on the mountainside, glowing green crystals and the occasional lightning bolt were the only means of light along the path. Despite seeing possibly dozens of dragons upon entering the Shadowlands, Emily could only see broken helmets and chains, along with the occasional dragon silhouette retreating into the distance.

With the muttering of voices still buzzing in the back of her head, Emily couldn’t shake the eerie feeling clinging to her heart. The clouds of stiflingly hot green vapor creeping along the ground, along with the black cloud rolling down the mountain, did nothing to ease her nerves. 

Hugging the backpack, now holding three dragon pups, close, Emily shuddered against the violently cold wind. Looking up ahead, she saw that she was lagging behind the rest of the group.

“H-h-how much fu-further?” Emily asked, her breath escaping her mouth like steam from a locomotive. 

“We’re on the right path.” Naida replied, stepping over a fallen pillar, “But we’re still quite far.”

Emily groaned to herself, pushing down the shudders building in her chest. She tried to continue on, but with her legs being nearly frozen solid from being exposed to the blistering wind, progress was incredibly slow going. Such progress was interrupted by a scuffle within the bag.

“Oh Christ.” Emily griped. She called out for the elves to wait for her while finding a nook in the rocks to place the bag. Standing so that her body shielded the bag, she opened it to reveal all three baby dragons. 

The newest dragon pup had turned out to be a magnificent azure color with silver horns and grey-blue eyes. But despite her beauty, she was a scrappy little thing, loudly chirping and hissing at Spark. The little fire dragon barked back, he and Fledge trying to yank the blanket out from under their sister.

“Jesus Rayne. You’re five hours old and already picking fights.” Emily scolded, grabbing another blanket from the bag and wrapping it around the feisty blue pup. Shifting Spark and Fledge around, she eventually got all the babies settled down enough to continue. But looking to the path ahead, Emily and her friends found themselves fully enclosed by the green fog.

“We should stop for the night!” Farran called out over the howling of the wind. 

“Where?!” Naida replied, her voice drowned out by the tempest that thundered through the mountain, bringing with it a snowstorm of black ash. Emily, the elves, and the dragon huddled close, standing in a tight circle facing each other.

“It’s freezing out here!” Azari stuttered. The layer of magic enveloping her body flickered as she struggled to keep her heating charm going.

“You don’t say?” Emily replied, her body violently shaking, “I’m shivering so hard, I’m surprised my insides haven’t liquified!”

The chuffing of an animal drew their attention outward. Through the blinding black, the silhouette of a large, elk-like animal could be made out. Above the figure and to the side, was a bright green light that easily cut through the ash.

“Who’s there?” Emily bellowed, drawing back into Azari as the silhouette came close. 

Briefly, the swirling ash cleared, revealing the figure to, in fact, be two. One looked to be a crossbreed of a dragon, a moose, and an elk, minus any wings. Sat atop the beast was the silhouette of a person holding a staff topped with a hanging lantern, the source of the green glow.

“Who are you?!” Farran demanded, he and Azari setting their hands alight with magic. 

The beast shifted in the swirling cloud of ash, their rider lifting the lantern staff high above their head. In a sweeping motion, the figure brought the lantern down to point at Emily.

Flinching back from the lantern, Emily found herself looking straight at a familiar cat’s eye symbol woven into the black metal cage. With another motion the person drew the lantern away, pointing the light up to where the path would be.

“I think they want us to follow them.” Emily suggested.

"Oh yes." Naida said, her voice laced with sarcasm, "Let's follow the mysterious figure through a storm in the Shadowlands, that shall surely end well."

Despite the remark, they followed the person and beast through the ash, the fire dragon taking up the rear. Emily attempted to strike up a conversation with their mysterious guide, but gave up when given strange looks from the elves, and minimal nonverbal responses from the figure. 

Through the storm Emily thought she could just barely see a dull orange glow. As they grew closer, the dull glow became a warmly lit cave, and a slight beacon of hope for them. They were seen to the entrance, taking in the warmth radiating from the veins of heat-emitting crystals lining the interior. The elves all filed in, relieved to escape the frigid air. 

Emily, however, lagged behind and turned, intending to thank the stranger who helped them. But instead she was met with the swirling storm and no sign of the stranger or the light. She only remembered she was standing in the freezing storm when Azari came out, beckoning her to join them in the warmth of the cave.

  
  


~*~

  
  


With the adult dragon’s help, Azari got a fire going and set about preparing small meals from their rations. Meanwhile, Naida poured over the book with a scowl, and Farran sat in the furthest corner of the cave, taking a swig from his canteen of mead from the inn. Emily sat by the fire dragon, struggling to get Rayne to settle down with her already slumbering siblings.

“I know sweetie, you’ve been cooped up in that backpack all day and just want to play. But right now it’s sleepy time.” Emily said to the wriggling blue baby, who chirped protests back at her.

“What about a lullaby?” Azari suggested, setting a steaming bowl of stew beside Emily.

“Rayne here won’t lie still long enough for me to remember any.” Emily replied, pinning the baby by the hips as she made a dash for the cave exit. Rayne beat her wings against the ground and grumbled, turning over her shoulder and lowly growling, which Emily mimicked back. Scooping the little dragon up, Emily pulled her close with one arm while stirring the stew with the other.

“Maybe food will get you sluggish enough to sleep.” Emily crooned, taking a spoonful and offering it to Rayne. 

Curiously, the baby sniffed the warm broth before snapping her mouth over the wooden spoon and purring in delight. A small grin ghosted across Emily’s lips at this small victory, and she continued feeding the pup, watching her eyes become droopier with every bite.

Emily leaned her head against the warm scales of the adult fire dragon, petting Rayne’s pearly smooth head scales. She took in the crackling of the fire, the clicking of spoons on bowls, and the light scraping sound of the adult dragon licking her bandaged wounds. Even the roaring wind outside had died down significantly. The ambience, however, was interrupted by Naida snapping the book shut and tossing it aside with a groan.

“What was that about?” Farran slurred, casting a tired eye to the water elf.

“There’s hardly a thing in this book about the Shadowlands. The only thing that’s remotely of substance is this cryptic riddle.” 

“Well, what did it say?” Emily asked while gently rocking Rayne. Naida sighed and thought for a moment.

“It sees into your heart, your mind, your soul. Maintain a strong resolve, else you fall to its control. Its waters may be beautiful, but often just for show. Remember your surroundings and the presence of your foe.”

“You’re right.” Farran said, “That is cryptic.”

Naida glowered, arms crossed and ears pinned. “If Aira was here, she could find something useful out of it.”

“Naida!” Azari harshly whispered.

Emily glanced to Farran, noting how he was curled over, face held in his hands and ears quivering. Furrowing a brow, she set a sleeping Rayne in the pile of her siblings and stepped across the cave next to Farran. Sliding down the cave wall, Emily sat beside Farran and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“How’re you holding up?” Emily asked quietly.

“I can’t believe she’s gone…” Farran said in a hoarse whisper. “...and so soon after we---”

Emily looked at him blankly, and after a moment, her eyes widened in realization.

“O… oh my god, I’m so sorry.” Emily shifted, looking away then back to Farran. “How long were you two together?”

“We asked each other at the ball.” Farran said simply, taking the canteen and bringing it to his lips. 

Emily couldn’t help the guilt that crept up her spine and into her neck. Shrinking away, she averted her eyes, remembering just how angry Farran looked on that night when he had to save her.

“I’m sorry… That I ruined that night for you.”

“Emily you didn---”

Farran was interrupted by Emily yelling at Rayne, who took the opportunity to run into the cold night.

“That sneaky little--- I’ll be back.” Emily said to no one in particular, dashing out into the dark after the little dragon.

  
  


~*~

  
  


“You think you’re  _ so _ smart huh? Pretending to be asleep then making a break for it?”

Emily struggled to hold Rayne as the pup kicked in her arms during the walk back. While finding the baby wasn’t difficult, there were hardly any places to hide in, catching the energetic pup took the better part of ten minutes. As she approached the cave Emily fell silent, catching Naida’s exasperated voice coming from within.

“Do you not think that she’s being a little dramatic?”

“Naida, of course not!” Came Azari’s reply.

“There was no reason for her to throw that tantrum! You’d think she was---”

“Naida---” Farran said through his teeth.

“And haven’t you noticed how she’s acting with you Farran?”

“That’s just how humans are.” Azari cut in, clearly irked.

“She’s always stuck close with Farran, and now that Aira’s gone---”

“I won’t hear any more of that Naida!” Farran barked, “You don’t know what---”

“All I’m saying is that Emily is being childish with how she’s handling this situation.”

Emily began to shake as the elves’ bickering continued, and not from the bitter air that surrounded her. Pinching her lips, she let Rayne hop onto the ground.

“Go to bed.” Emily said lowly, turning down a rough, overgrown path. The baby dragon cooed after, attempting to follow.

“GO!” Emily shouted, jabbing a finger to the cave. Rayne tucked her tail and dropped her ears, dragging her wings back to the cave. The remorse Emily felt at the sight was quickly outweighed by the anger in her blood, and she proceeded to stalk further down the trail.

  
  


~*~

  
  


A short time later Emily reached a fork in the path. One path led straight ahead to a ridge, the other to a ruined stairway that trailed down into a glade. It was as Emily started towards the ridge path that she heard it.

** _“... moves the air… feeds the fire…”_ **

Emily shifted her eyes to the stairs, where a woman’s faint singing could be heard.

“Hello?” Emily shyly called out, her voice echoing off the walls.

** _“... is here, if you dare to believe…”_ **

Drawn in by the haunting voice, Emily started down the stairs.

** _“Sail out to sea, on the ocean of mystery”_ **

The woman’s words became clear once Emily was halfway down. But from what she could see of the hidden glen, there wasn’t another soul to be seen.

** _“And bring your heart... to the ones that you meet.”_ **

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Emily looked all around for the owner of the voice. But as the song faded out, all she could hear was trickling water.

“Hello?” Emily said again, her eyes wandering to a fountain that was framed by glimmering blue and green trees. Bright green water flowed from the stone mouth of a basilisk and into a simple, circular stone basin, the liquid leaking out and permeating the cracks in the dry ground.

** _“Hello my friend!”_ **

Emily jumped at the voice, frantically looking around again.

** _“Come, let me see you better.”_ **

“Where are you?!” Emily yelled, holding her arms close to herself, her breath quickening. Through a tugging in her mind, Emily felt drawn to look to the fountain once again.

** _“Here, I’m here. Come dear friend I wish to see you.”_ **

Relaxing her posture, Emily walked to the structure, hesitating at the steps leading up to the water’s edge.

** _“Closer, look into my waters.”_ **

Emily swallowed her nerves stepping up to the brim. Leaning over, she saw her reflection in the water.

** _“Oh my! So young and brimming with life. Yet, your heart aches with the pain of a soul that has lived through centuries.”_ **

Emily felt the urge to rebuttal, but she couldn’t help but find some truth in the fountain’s words. As the alluring voice continued, she could feel her apprehension melt away into a dream-like contentment.

** _“You’ve lost many to mortality’s hand. And many more to time’s drifting tide.”_ ** The fountain said, mist growing from the water’s surface to brush Emily’s cheek. She nodded slowly, her eyes feeling heavy as she was drawn to kneel over the water.

** _“You feel powerless to stop it, that to protect them all you must run and hide.”_ **

Emily rested her arms on the fountain’s lip, tears threatening to fall.

** _“Emily my dear, so brave and so smart, but pain forces you to lock away your heart.”_ **

As Emily lowered her face, the mist took on the form of a hand, bringing her chin back up and over the water.

** _“I can help you overcome the limits others expect, I can give you power to serve and protect.”_ **

“But I don’t have magic.” Emily said back weakly.

** _“Indeed you do, you’ve magic abound! Drink from my waters, and discover powers yet found.”_ **

Straightening up, Emily looked into the surprisingly clear green water. Raising her hands to her face, she smiled as she imagined herself using magic. What she could create, the lives she could save…

It would be a dream come true.

Before she knew it, the cool water was flowing into her cupped hands. Halfway through lifting the water to her lips, a shriek pierced the air. 

The water splashed onto the stairs as Emily jerked. Whipping her head around, she was faced with three shadowy, vaguely humanoid figures. The glen surrounding them turned black and green, like some sort of decay had spread out from the forms. One figure had red eyes, another blue, and the last green. All three stepped towards her, and she took a step back.

“S-stay back.” She pleaded weakly, holding her hand away. One of the figures made garbled noises akin to speech, but the meaning was lost on Emily.

** _“Shadow beasts, made of only evil. If they haven’t yet harmed you, they soon will.”_ **

The figures started steadily towards her. Blindly, Emily grabbed the closest thing she could reach, which happened to be a worn ebony staff.

“Back off!” Emily shouted, raising her weapon. The figures hesitated, but continued their approach anyway, spreading out and effectively cornering her, continuing their speech-like sounds. Emily dizzied herself trying to keep them all within her sight. ** **

** _“Emily drink my waters, or it shall be the end of you and your friends!”_ **

The figure with blue eyes lurched towards Emily. With a shriek Emily struck the figure in the abdomen, sending it yowling onto the ground. She jumped through the opening that was left and faced the other two forms.

“Leave me alone! I have nothing you want!” Emily shouted, haphazardly swinging the staff in their direction.

** _“Drink! You can protect no one in this state! Drink!” _ **

The water became Emily’s only source of light, her glossy eyes fixating on it as she abandoned the staff and barreled through the green-eyed form.

Emily reached out for the fountain’s misty hand, but before she could dip her hand into the water she was wrenched away. After a quick scuffle, Emily threw the shadow beast to the ground, pinning its arms with her knees. In a blink, she was raising her knife high above her head, a bestial roar thundered from her chest.

** _“STOP! LEAVE HER BE!”_ **

The knife was torn from her hand and Emily was thrown from the red-eyed figure, now faced with the green-eyed one. Baring her teeth and growling deeply, Emily charged the creature, connecting three punches to its body. The shadowy form staggered back, and Emily turned on her heel towards the fountain. She only made it a few steps before something wrapped around her torso and yanked her away once again.

Emily screamed and thrashed against the black mass that restrained her as it carried her up, further and further away from the fountain. Through the black cloudiness in her vision, all she could see were the bright orange eyes of the fourth beast and the misty blackness of its much larger form. She grew increasingly tired the farther she was taken from the fountain, barely noticing that the beast stopped. It was when she felt her feet dragging on the ground, followed by the sight of the other three figures nearby, that her second wind came. 

Emily managed to free herself from the largest figure's shadowy appendage, making to run back to the safety of the fountain. She didn't get more than a step away before being slammed into the ground. She writhed, growled, and hissed under the beast’s paw, but it was no use. Just as Emily’s mind began to spiral, a sharp pain swiped across her face.

Suddenly the world was clear, quiet. Instead of a shadowy beast, she was being held down by the adult fire dragon. To her left and standing above her were the elves, all of them looking worse for wear. Naida and Azari looking more emotionally disturbed, while Farran simply looked battered. Standing on Emily’s chest was Spark with a fearful gleam in his eyes and his tiny claws raised.

Slowly the adult dragon lifted her paw off of Emily, quickly being replaced by Fledge and Rayne, who whined and cried into her along with their brother. 

“Are you okay Em?”

Sitting up and cradling the pups, Emily looked to Azari, then just past her to where Farran and Naida were tending to their injuries. Emily brought her knees to her chest and cuddled the pups closer. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She said, casting her eyes away in shame. “I… I don’t know what happened…”

“You were lured in by the Shadow Fountain. Somehow it managed to have a pull strong enough to draw you in from where we were.” Farran said, moving on from his injuries and tending to the adult dragon’s wing.

“We’re sorry that we didn’t come after you sooner.” Azari moved closer and brought a hand up to heal the scratches on Emily’s face. “I don’t know how it happened, but the three of us were so preoccupied by an argument that we didn’t notice you never came back until Rayne and the other pups became really distressed and all ran off.”

Emily sighed, reserving herself to comforting the whimpering pups. Azari sat and watched her coo apologies to them until they calmed down enough to let go of Emily and return to the bag.

“We really should keep moving.” Farran announced, stepping away from the adult dragon’s wing.

“Is Zonya okay for that?” Azari asked, she and Emily standing and brushing the dirt from their legs.

“Her wing looks like it’s fully healed now, but it’s still tender to the touch.” He replied, running one last spell across the wing and gathering up his bag.

“Who?” Emily asked, giving Azari a confused look.

“The dragon, her name’s Zonya.”

Azari continued to explain how she had mind-linked with the dragon, that it was “like we can read the other’s mind”. As the fire elf rambled on and on, Farran cut in.

“Azari are you done or can we continue?” He yelled back to them, Naida and Zonya giving each other a look and giggling.

“Yeah yeah, we’re coming!” Azari replied, she and Emily hurrying to catch up.

  
  


~*~

  
  


Crouching behind a ledge just on the outskirts of the castle, Emily and the elves looked ahead to its imposing onyx walls. Unlike the other structures in the Shadowlands, which were crumbling ruins choked by undergrowth, the castle was in pristine condition as if it had just risen from the ground that very day.

“Now what?” Naida said, leaning against an outcropping rock.

Emily’s eyes wandered up the castle’s sharply angled towers, noticing that the banners fluttering in the wind were marked by the same symbol she had come to associate with a certain elvendale royal. Ignoring how her heart flipped she ducked behind the same outcrop as Azari.

“Well, we’re for sure not crossing.” Emily said, looking inside the backpack to the pups. “We can’t just walk up like girl scouts selling cookies.” She said in a goofy voice and grinning when the pups shook their heads in response.

“Then we’ll just have to find another way in.” Farran replied. Setting his hand on the ground he sent waves of magic into the land in small pulses, his ears swiveling around. 

“There’s a giant cave system beneath the castle.” He said, straightening up to face the girls. “It runs deep and far, but there’s an entrance closeby.”

Following Farran, they made their way down the side of the ledge. The earth elf slowly swayed his hand, magic continuing to flow from it like falling leaves. Soon they approached the bank of the castle’s moat.

“There, at the bottom of the moat." Farran dispersed the spell and pointed. They all looked to an area in the water where it looked like an offshoot leading deep into the ground. Naida walked around the group, and with a flick of her wrist, the water parted into a tunnel that met up with the opening. With the help of a railing Farran grew from some nearby vines, Emily and the elves crept down. Zonya remained on the shore, giving Azari a weary look.

“She can’t come, she doesn’t like closed spaces.” The fire elf said, “But we’ll see her again soon.”

Azari followed them down, but stopped midway to blow the dragon a fiery kiss. Zonya raised her head to catch the kiss, stretched her wings, and galloped away.

  
  


~*~

  
  


Inside the cavern it was pitch black, save for the light of glowing pink and green crystals, as well as thousands of other glistening gemstones. Despite being underneath a castle run by such a wicked person, Emily was entranced by the sight.

“It reminds me of the night skies here.” She mused, opening the bag just slightly so the pups could see.

“Too bad this has to be under a castle run by someone like Ragana.” Naida said. This made Emily deflate and she nervously chewed her lip.

“Yeah… but still.”

They walked on, deeper and deeper through winding tunnels. To Emily it was a wonder that they didn’t get turned around or lost. Soon they came to a fork, uncertain of where to go next. As they stood around deliberating what to do, Emily yelped.

“What’s wrong?” Azari asked, the elves all turning to look at Emily.

“I think something just brushed up behind me.” Emily said, looking around herself but finding nothing. However Spark and his sisters clambered atop each other and peeped excitedly at the empty space. 

Distracted by the pups, Emily and the elves didn’t notice the final egg beginning to crack and move, wiggling so hard that it fell from Naida’s basket. Thankfully Farran managed to catch it before it went tumbling down the tunnels. They then heard him let out a strained sound, followed by the familiar green glow of his magic.

“Oh dear.” Naida said. Emily held the pups close as they all turned in unison.

Farran gritted his teeth and tried to set the egg back down. But it stuck fast and was absorbing magic from both him and the surrounding crystals. As the last of the magic flowing down Farran’s arms entered the egg, turning the opalescent shell into a crystalline green, the pup emerged.

The new dragon pup remained curled in Farran’s arms, but grew restless and managed the leap from Farran onto the ground. The dull green baby, although weak, crawled towards Emily with an unrelenting determination.

“Persistent, just like a little plant.” Emily said, setting the bag down and scooping the pup into her arms. After a quick cuddle the baby brightened into various shades of green, and her claws and horns turned gold.

“There, isn’t that better Floria?” Emily asked in a baby voice, tickling the pup’s white belly before setting her with her siblings.

“Alright, all the babies have hatched.” Farran said, rubbing his wrists, “Now we just need to figure out which way leads into the castle.”

“Here! I think I found just the thing we need.” Naida exclaimed and ran her finger along a page in the book. Azari leaned over and squinted at the page, reading it aloud.

“Through crystals bright, a track runs fast, its cart will reach the castle at last.”

“A cart…” Emily pondered for a moment, “Like a minecart?”

Just then, Spark and his sisters popped their heads out of the bag and began squealing and pawing in the direction of one of the tunnels. On a whim, Emily decided to follow, and with the elves behind her, she made her way through the tunnel. Sure enough, they soon came to one end of a mine track where an old but seemingly well maintained cart waited.

“Well, this is it.” Naida said to herself. Emily handed the backpack over to Azari, who followed her into the cart. Farran and Emily pushed the minecart until it gained a suitable speed, then they jumped in and held on for dear life.

  
  


~*~

  
  


Screams echoed through the tunnels as the cart raced up and down along the tracks, most coming from Emily. They shot around corners at top speeds, every turn they made sending them to one side of the cart or another. Emily feared the cart would become top heavy and careen off into the deep caverns below.

“Graces of the greats!” Farran and Naida shouted. Confused and distressed Emily tore herself away from Azari’s shoulder and looked dead ahead.

“OH MY GOD!”

Emily screamed once again as the cart flew off of where the track ended, sending them soaring through the air. Just as Emily thought they’d all end up as mangled blotches in the shallow lake below them, the cart jolted and began flying on its own.

The elves and Emily were so overcome with relief that they wouldn’t meet their doom just yet, that they didn’t even question the slight up and down motions the cart made, nor the buffeting of wind in their hair. The feeling was short lived however, as with a final motion, the cart was thrown forward onto the track, and they were once again subjected to the wild ride.

  
  


~*~

  
  


With an oddly cheerful ding, the cart rolled to a stop in a barren, yet lavishly finished room filled to the rafters with crystals. Gasping, Emily pried herself away from where she had buried herself into Azari’s neck, and shakily showed herself out of the cart.

“Never again… never again…” She repeated to herself, tears rolling onto her cheeks. Taking the bag Azari offered back to her, Emily checked over the pups, who were all equally shaken.

“Are you okay?” Naida asked with a concerned look.

“Yeah.” Emily sniffled, not understanding why she suddenly felt such a way, “I think it’s a stress response, it should pass over in a minute.”

In reality, it did not pass. As they wandered the castle she felt her state of desperation and heartache grow in intensity. No matter how much she tried to bury it, the mess of emotions within her bubbled over every time.

“I--- I think she’s close.” Emily choked out, her tears rendering her nearly blind despite how frequently she blinked. Through dim green torchlight they walked the castle’s elegant corridors, following the intensity of Emily’s empathetic episodes until they reached a room that looked larger than the rest.

“It looks like an empty throne room.” Naida said.

“Shh, look!” Farran hushed, pointing inside the pitch black room.

There, positioned in a claw-like podium, was the final egg, emanating a ghostly white glow. If she listened closely, Emily thought she could hear the faint rattling of chains from further back in the room.

“We have to get that egg.” Azari said, right before charging into the room.

“Azari wait!” Farran said through his teeth after her, but ultimately being ignored. The fire elf crouched behind a pillar, signaling the rest of them to follow.

Pinching the bridge of his nose and giving a deep sigh, Farran followed. He dashed across the room and ducked behind the same pillar as Azari.

Naida and Emily were next. The water elf guided Emily by the arm, since she couldn’t see through the sheer amount of tears welling in her eyes. Emily covered her mouth and lurched, attempting to push down another wave. Naida tried to move her along faster, but Emily had lost control over her body and curled on herself.

“Come on Emily, we’re almost there.” Naida softly urged. Azari and Farran noticed the delay, and both came out to help. But before they could get near, Emily let out a shrill wail that echoed throughout the entire castle.

They all stood, frozen in horror as they waited for something, anything, to happen.

“I---” Emily started, the emotions somehow vanishing at once, “I hope no one---”

Suddenly a giant chandelier lit up, revealing the sorceress who sat upon a throne just behind and beside the egg’s podium. In her lap laid a black and grey cat with a gold and emerald collar, and at her feet was a bright green fox with dark green and magenta markings.

“Welcome to my humble little home! I’ve been expecting you.” The sorceress sneered, resting one hand on the cat while stroking the egg with a long black nail of the other.

“Has she just  _ been _ here in the dark the entire time?” Emily whispered to herself. She and the elves remained frozen, while the sorceress continued on.

“How sweet of you!” She said with a sugary tone, “You must have come to deliver the babies. They’re not doing so well, are they?”

At that moment Rayne burst from the bag with a squeaky battle cry and attempted to fly at the sorceress with teeth bared. Emily quickly snatched her from the air, doing her best to hold the wriggling and growling pup back. By the look on her face, it was clear the sorceress was not expecting such a turn.

“Actually, they’re doing just fine.” Emily said, a smile tugging at her lips. The other three pups piled out of the bag, Rayne joining them in taking refuge behind Emily’s legs.

“What have you done to them?!” The sorceress snarled, the cat scrambling to get off her lap as she stood from her throne in a rage. “They’re all supposed to be royal dragons!”

“Where is their mother?” Emily demanded. The sorceress leaned towards them with a hiss, then paused, a sly grin crossing her face. 

“Is that what you’re here for? I can show you that stubborn draka. For a trade perhaps?” Without waiting for an answer, the sorceress flicked her finger, causing the drapery behind her to draw back.

In the space behind the curtain was the queen dragon, with her wings bound and limbs shackled. From what little movement the bindings allowed, she thrashed and pulled at the enchanted chains, which held tight. If her mouth wasn’t bound tightly shut she would have roared in anger, because she tried with all her might to do so.

Emily found herself entranced by the pure white dragon, from the way the blue gemstones on her back and shoulders glittered, to the gold of her belly and horns. It was a tragedy that she had to endure such torment.

“Now, for your part of the trade.” The sorceress grinned. Raising an arm she shot cords of black magic towards Emily. With the human momentarily distracted, she tore all four babies from Emily’s legs.

“NOOO!” The elves yelled, all reaching to the pups and snapping Emily back to the present. Emily gasped and lurched forward, grabbing the closest pup, which happened to be Spark. They could only watch as Spark’s sisters were all thrown into individual cages, whimpering from the doors slamming in their faces. But Emily held onto him with everything she had, her feet dragging while she fought the pull of the sorceress’ magic.

“Hand. Over. That. Pup!” The sorceress ordered, focusing her energy on trying to pull Spark from Emily.

“You want him?” Emily replied with fire in her eyes, “Then you can pry him out of my cold, dead arms!”

“Oh?” The sorceress sneered, charging up her other arm and lifting Emily into the air. “I can arrange that.”

A blood-chilling scream resonated around the room as waves of magic resembling electricity struck Emily’s body. She writhed from pain unlike anything she had ever felt in her life, but she was determined to hang on to Spark, her agony only making her hold tighter.

In that moment Emily felt a buzzing against her chest, followed by a glare of light that sent her skidding along the floor.

“Go.” Emily whispered to Spark. He scampered to take cover behind a pillar as Farran raised a forcefield, blocking another attempt from the sorceress to grab him. Shakily, and with help from Azari and Farran, Emily stood and faced the sorceress again.

“How?” The sorceress growled in disbelief.

“Free the queen, Ragana!” Farran said angrily, “She doesn’t belong to you.”

The sorceress, Ragana, was caught by her name being spoken. But she laughed, regaining her malicious composure. As she was about to speak, she caught sight of Emily’s amulet, still sparking with bluish-white magic.

“Well, well. Isn’t this a turn of events!” Ragana sneered, gracefully returning to her throne. “You’re the fourthling girl from the queen’s ball!”

The way she had said “fourthling” made Emily’s blood run cold. In return she bared her teeth and held her silence, shifting to stand more independently from Azari and Farran.

“I hear you’ve quite the prize on your head. If I hold Elandra hostage and turn you in, I’ll surely be given the throne to Elvendale!”

Emily snorted, breaking into a brief fit of laughter.

“You’re delusional! I may not be familiar with politics here, but Oriana does NOT strike me as the type to give up power to some crazy person living in the middle of nowhere.”

The room fell into shadow, matching the furious expression and pinned ears of the sorceress. Black and green magic surged from her arms and gathered in violently flaming orbs at her hands. Emily saw what was coming, and yelled for everyone to take cover. They had just barely dodged the first attack and made it to shelter by the second, which Farran had to push Naida out of the way for.

Continuing her assault, the sorceress blasted craters into the walls and floor. Emily and the elves shrunk as far back as they could, avoiding the stone-melting magic. Azari, who had ended up on the other side of the room, took fire from a nearby torch and hurled it towards Ragana. She managed a direct hit, dazing the sorceress just long enough to sprint across the room to where the rest of them hid.

“What if…” Emily panted, “What if you guys united your magic? Like in the story you told me?”

“Emily, you know what happened when we did that.” Naida countered.

“She’s right. Besides, we need Aira.” Farran said, looking very unsure of the idea.

“I know.” Emily replied in a sympathetic tone. “But we need to make do with who we have, or we stand no chance of surviving.”

“Em’s right. We need to at least try.” Azari agreed, setting her hand alight. Naida and Farran followed after a moment’s hesitation. Together, the three elves ran into the open, moving into a row and sending beams of their elemental magic on a collision course with the sorceress’. 

Clutching a fearful Spark, Emily watched as the elves’ tried their best to push back the attack, but it ultimately wasn’t enough. Just as the remaining space between her friends and the dark magic closed, three beams of purple, lime, and sapphire blue magic joined the battle.

“Aira!” Emily cried, delighted by the sight of the wind elf. At her side were Tidus and Sira, all of them having a determined look in their eyes. With the added powers, the elves’ magic finally began to push back against the dark force, but it also became unstable.

A clap of thunder and a blinding light threw everyone back with such a force, it left even Emily’s head spinning. The elves were sprawled on the ground, and the sorceress had been thrown against the stairs that led up to her throne.

Just as everyone had begun to recover, wingbeats could be heard as shadows crossed the windows in a fury, and muffled bellows and roars could be heard surrounding the castle. Something struck the outside of the wall directly behind Emily. Pressing herself against a pillar, she watched the crack in the wall grow in size until it fully caved.

Through the dust came Thorne, followed by half a dozen other dragons. Judging by their colors, they were mostly earth dragons, with the wyvern Athena and a smaller bright blue dragon charging in with them. Immediately after them, crystals burst through more of the walls, followed by wingless dragons that looked like living jewels. Fire and wind dragons shattered through the windows, including Zonya and the four-winged dragon she had chased. The room vibrated with the sound of rattling scales and hateful hissing, the formerly enslaved dragons closing in. 

“Get away from me!” The sorceress shrieked. Emily could feel that something was off about the situation, noticing how the sorceress flashed a sly look towards the queen dragon.

“It’s over.” Tidus said with a dark tone. “You’d be wise to give up now rather than wait for the royals.”

“This isn’t right…” Emily shivered. Thorne looked over at her, then followed her gaze to the chandelier, which began to emit a green light.

“It’s a trap! Stay back!” She warned just moments too late. 

Using the chandelier, the sorceress released a wave of magic, driving off most of the dragons. Those who weren’t driven off were frozen in states of alarm, fury, or mid-attack. Thankfully, the elves weren’t affected by the surge, as Athena managed to shield them in time. 

It was then that Emily noticed two new dragons next to Elandra, who looked like they were attempting to break the chains. Both were white, one with pastel rainbow scales down the belly and glittering white fur down the head and back. The other was the white and gold feathered dragon from Emily’s vision. 

“Awww! How sweet, two more babies for my collection.” The sorceress taunted, the dragon with fur running down its head and back snarling in return. Taking a chance, the elves ran past Athena and once again met the bolt of magic lightning.

“You fools! I am Ragana Shadowflame, scion of the Phoenixflame lineage! Surrender now or I’ll imprison you all!”

The threat did little to deter the elves, despite their magic giving way once again to the sorceress’. Even when the magic began breaking down the elves held their resolve.

Emily tucked herself behind the wall and curled around Spark. The pup nuzzled up under her chin and made irregular sounds as his attempt at purring. Her head ached with the buzzing of voices, the emotions from Elandra, and the whirring sound of the magic growing louder and faster as it began to break down once again.

She didn’t know what to do.

Everything was happening at once, and she was powerless to stop it. All she felt was the pressing urge to cry. 

Cry for the dragons who were held captive. 

Cry for her friends, who she dragged into this heroes’ mission.

Cry because they were doing the work, while all she was good for was hiding. 

Emily curled even tighter around Spark, covering her mouth and biting back tears.

_ “Magic needs a proper medium to pass through when being mixed...” _

Naida’s words echoed in Emily’s mind and she flashed her eyes towards the battle. The elves’ held their ground against the sorceress, but the colliding streams of magic were quickly reacting and breaking down.

Suddenly, Emily no longer felt hopeless.

She stood and set Spark down, telling him to stay. With her hand on her grandmother’s amulet, she confidently strode into the open.

“Emily no!”

“Stop!”

“You’ll hurt yourself!”

The elves’ pleas and protests fell on deaf ears and Emily continued on. She didn’t know how or why, but something guided her into the line of fire.

It all happened at once.

She felt both everything and nothing. Joy and fear. Cowardice and determination. Kindness and unadulterated fury. Her entire body shook and she felt the magic enter her being, running up and down and spirling through her body in a frenzy.

“Emily what are you doing?!” Someone cried out.

Emily felt calm, and slowly she turned over her shoulder. In a voice she wasn’t entirely sure was her own, she spoke.

“Giving you the right medium.”

Her arm came down to hold the amulet before her. What was once buzzing turned into a surging wave, a raging fire, the earth gave way beneath her feet and a storm tore through everything she ever was.

She felt it.

The magic found its target.

She wanted to scream but her voice failed her. Her body was held stiff, yet she felt light as the magic traveled through her and out of the amulet.

  
  


~*~

  
  


In a flash of white and a resonating shriek, the sorceress was disintegrated into glittering green and pink smoke. Everyone held their breath, not daring to move as the smoke flew around the room, desperately searching for a way to escape while hurling verbal abuses their way. Finally, the smoke cloud zipped through an open window, followed by the cat and the fox.

The sorceress’ magic dissolved with a hiss. All the dragons were able to move once again, and the queen dragon’s bindings burst. The cage doors opened and the dragon pups jumped down, gazing at their mother in awe.

Feeling the intense high of their victory, the elves broke into cheers and laughter. Farran quickly grabbed Aira and pulled her into a hug, spinning her around and pressing their foreheads close.

“How did you survive?” Farran asked, his eyes shining.

“I don’t know!” Aira replied, “I woke up and Gust was curled up around me.”

“We did it. We actually did it!” Azari beamed, pumping her fist into the air.

“Now hopefully relations between elves and the draconna can be smoothed over.” Tidus added, “I don’t think this could have been done without you Emily.”

The elves turned to where Emily remained standing. Her now pure white hair floated frozen in space, and her body still partially charged with magic. The human didn’t respond, even when her name was repeated.

Suddenly Emily released a breath, her braid falling and returning to its original brown color. The amulet slipped from her fingers, and she collapsed with it.

“Emily!” The elves exclaimed, rushing forward to catch her. To their relief however, the white and gold feathered dragon managed to do so before them.

  
  


~*~

  
  


_ A delicate cracking sound, followed by high pitched peeping. Through her fuzzy vision a white mass broke free and shifted around on top of her. _

Stretching, Emily opened her eyes fully, surrounded by the relieved faces of her friends and Skyra.

“Emily! Graces, it’s a relief to see you’re alright.” Skyra said, helping her sit up.

“I uh, I think I am?” Emily pondered, looking herself over before reaching up to her head. She steadied herself as the familiar faces of the four dragon pups swarmed her, eventually calming down to excited chirping. Once adjusted to her environment, Emily brightened upon seeing Aira.

“Oh my god Aira you’re okay!” Emily cried, wrapping her free arm around the elf and hugging her close.

“What happened?” She asked, looking at each of the elves. They proceeded to fill her in on what happened, up to her fainting and Sira and Tidus returning to their lives.

“Elandra brought you here herself.” Skyra added. 

Emily glanced to Skyra, noticing a black stone set in a silver band around her neck, the stone seeming to pulse with purple light every couple of moments. But the wriggling in Emily’s arms diverted her attention from the addition to Skyra’s look.

“Oh uh, here.” Emily said, reaching the little white pup towards Elandra. The dragon grinned and rumbled, pushing the pup back to Emily with her snout.

“She wants you to name her.” Skyra interpreted, followed by an affirming nod from the queen dragon.

Emily stammered, unsure of what to say. Turning to get a better look, Emily examined her pearly blue-ish white scales and the tourmaline blue gems running down her back. Running a finger along the golden horn nubs and the matching crown-like design on the pup’s head, Emily racked her brain for ideas, but nothing that came to mind felt right. 

The baby stirred in her hands and stretched her dusty blue wings. Unlike her siblings, the royal pup had patterns of blue and white swirls on her inner wing. Slowly, Emily was met with the pup’s gorgeous blue eyes, which glittered like early evening stars.

“Estari.”

Elandra made a sound akin to a low purr, bumping her nose against Emily’s shoulder. Emily chuckled, scratching the royal dragon pup behind the ear.

“Wait.” Emily jerked, her heart skipping a beat, “How long have I been here?”

“It’s been about two and a half days since you came back to Elvendale, why?” Naida said.

“Holy Christ I’m late for school!” Emily shouted, jumping up and draping Estari over Elandra's snout. Throwing a hurried goodbye over her shoulder she ran to the portal and was pulled through, leaving the elves bewildered, but in high spirits.


End file.
